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2011-11-29 Special Joint PZ~ i ~,' ~: CITY OF MERIDIAN CITY COUNCIL PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION JOINT MEETING Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. City Council Chambers 33 East Broadway Avenue, Meridian, Idaho 1. Roll-call Attendance: David Zaremba Charlie Rountree Brad Hoaglun X Keith Bird X Mayor Tammy de Weerd 2. 3. 4. Pledge of Allegiance Adoption of the Agenda Adopted Consent Agenda Approved A. Award of Bid and Agreement for "Maple Ave. Water Main Replacements-Construction" to the Low Bidder, Star Construction, for the Not-To-Exceed Amount of $130,506.00 and Authorize the Mayor to Sign the Agreement B. Approval of New Beer, 1n/ine and Liquor Licenses for Lucky Fins LLC, dba Lucky Fins Located at 1441 N. Eagle Rd. #100 5. 6. Items Moved From Consent Agenda Department Reports A. Mayor's Office: Mayor's Youth Advisory Council (MYAC) Update Meridian City Council & P&Z Joint Meeting Agenda -November 29, 2011 Page 1 of 2 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. City Council: Acceptance of Ada County Official Election Results and Canvass of Votes prove 7. Roll Call Attendance of the Planning and Zoning Commissioners X Tom O'Brien Steve Yearsley Michael Rohm Joe Marshall Scott Freeman -Chairman 8. Certificate of Zoning Compliance (CZC) Year in Review Report 9. Fairview Access Management Plan Presentation and Update 10. Airport Road -Overland Road Study Presentation and Update 11. South Meridian Future Land Use Request for Proposal (RFP) Information 12. Potential Comprehensive Plan Text Amendments Discussion 13. Downtown Right-of-lJVay and Streetscape Standards Presentation 14. Traditional City Core (Downtown) Outreach Report 15. Open Discussion journed satin at : p.m. d ~(~ c~ ~~~~ ~ wc~ ~~ %~ ~~~ Meridian City Council & P&Z Joint Meeting Agenda -November 29, 2011 Page 2 of 2 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 Citv Council November 29, 2011 A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 29, 2011, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd. Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Brad Hoaglun, David Zaremba, Keith Bird and Charlie Rountree. Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Pete Friedman, Rich Dees, James Leslie, Parry Palmer, Caleb Hood, and Dean Willis. Item 1: Roll-call Attendance: Roll call. X David Zaremba X Brad Hoaglun X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird X Mayor Tammy de Weerd De Weerd: Okay. I will go ahead and call this meeting to order. Thank you all for joining us this evening. For the record it is Tuesday, November 29th. It's 7:00 o'clock. We will start with roll call attendance, Madam Clerk. Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance De Weerd: Item No. 2 is our Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all rise and join us in the pledge. Item 3: Adoption of the Agenda De Weerd: Item No. 3 is adoption of the agenda. Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun. Hoaglun: There are no changes to the printed agenda we have before us. So, I move approval -- 1 move adoption of the special meeting agenda as printed. Rountree: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda as presented. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 4: Consent Agenda Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 2 of 37 A. Award of Bid and Agreement for "Maple Ave. Water Main Replacements-Construction" to the Low Bidder, Star Construction, for the Not-To-Exceed Amount of $130,506.00 and Authorize the Mayor to Sign the Agreement B. Approval of New Beer, Wine and Liquor Licenses for Lucky Fins LLC, dba Lucky Fins Located at 1441 N. Eagle Rd. #100 De Weerd: Item 4 is our Consent Agenda. Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Again, nothing new on there. I move approval of the Consent Agenda and the Mayor to sign and Clerk to attest. Bird: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the Consent Agenda. If there is no discussion, Madam Clerk, roll call, please. Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 5: Items Moved From Consent Agenda De Weerd: There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda. Item 6: ®epartment Reports A. Mayor's ®ffice: Mayor's Youth Advisory Council (MYAC) Update De Weerd: So, we will move to Item No. 6 under Department Reports. First up is the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council. Thank you joining us. Knapp: Thank you. My name is Elizabeth Knapp and I go to -- I am home schooled and I take a couple classes at Centennial High School. I'm the vice-chair of MYAC this year and I'm also the chair of the community involvement subcommittee. Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 3 of 37 Valtoff: I'm Abbey Valtoff and I'm a senior at Mountain View High School and I'm at the -- and I'm the at large representative for MYAC, meaning I help to represent the schools that might not have as many members or be underrepresented in MYAC, so that they are able to get their ideas put in as well. Knapp: Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak tonight. MYAC has been really active this year with 40 to 50 students attending each meeting. It's a lot better attendance than last year, so we are really excited about this. Also every member is really active and engaged this year, which is great. In November's meetings we did Mad City Money, which is a real world financial simulation, which I think is really good and educational for the students to see what it's like to live in the real world with real expenses and things like that. This event was led by Capital Educators and it's put on in conjunction with the Meridian Chamber of Commerce and that was really successful. Last night's meeting included a presentation by Dan Long on the seven habits of -- excuse me -- of highly effective teenagers. This was really good, too. I think people learned a lot and they had some really good points that not every teenager thinks of. Community involvement this month participated in Rake Up Meridian where we were able to rake up three homes. Last year we only did one, so this was really -- this was really good. We also had a lot of attendance by the MYAC members. That was great. In two weeks from today we will be volunteering to wrap gifts for the Meridian Kiwanis Club hope tree project. That's Tuesday, the 13th, and we will be wrapping gifts for the -- the children that need gifts and the gifts that have been bought for them already. So we will be doing that. And, then, did you want to talk about -- Valtoff: In the Teen Activities Council we recently had a haunted house at the community center and it was a big success. We had a lot of teenagers and middle schoolers come from around the City of Meridian and we had a better turn out than we have had in previous years, so we will be continuing this again next year and we will make a few changes, so that we can make it even more successful, but we look forward to repeating it again next year. Knapp: Government affairs held their candidate forum a couple weeks ago. That was also very successful. We had a lot of students come and participate. Thank you to Councilman Zaremba and Councilman Rountree for coming and for Mayor Tammy. I think it was really -- it was really successful and we also were able to learn a lot of good things for the next time we want to do a candidate forum. GA is also looking to hold a legislative breakfast in the beginning of 2012 in January sometime and we will decide next Monday what we are going to advocate to talk to the legislators about when we do that and, then, we will also be choosing a location soon. And we are also beginning to plan for a youth forum in either April or May. So, we will hopefully invite some other students to come and join us and that will be really good. Thanks for letting us talk tonight. Do you guys have any questions for us? Bird: Madam Mayor? Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 4 of 37 De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I don't have a question, I just want to compliment you for your presentation tonight, but also take back to your group we up here have been able to go to a lot of candidate forums and I think that the one you kids put on out there was the best one I have ever attended. I really appreciate what you did for the community and for the voters and helped. I really -- I can't thank you enough and you guys did a very very good job. Rountree: Madam Mayor, I would second that. Even though I was a participant and somewhat -- you're always a little hesitant in those situations, but it was -- it was well done and at the end I enjoyed it, particularly on November 8th, but -- Zaremba: Madam Mayor? Rountree: And compliment you on your presentation this evening and -- and I learned something tonight that the out reach of MYAC goes beyond the public school system and, Elizabeth, I'm pleased that it goes out into the community and you were able to find it. That's great. Thank you for taking that on and getting involved. Knapp: I'm glad I could be a part of it. De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: Thank you. I, too, want to thank you for being involved in the community and -- and for putting on the candidate forum, which I also enjoyed. I'm watching my watch very closely here. De Weerd: That's because you can see it. Zaremba: Make sure I don't get red flagged or something. But it was -- it was very well put together and very well put on and like Mr. Bird I thought it was one of the best that I have ever attended, regardless of which side I was on, and really appreciate all the work that you guys are doing. So, thank you. De Weerd: Since you're getting kudos about that, you have already heard my -- my comments, but I met with several of the candidates that ran for office today. I had three of them and we kind of debriefed with them, gained their perspective, learned what they learned during the campaigns. But all of them commented about the youth council forum and greatly appreciated not only the opportunity to have an interaction with the community, they really enjoyed the interaction with the youth, and, in particular, the interaction that happened after the debate or the forum was over, chatting with a number of the students and getting additional opportunity to find out more about what is on all of your minds. So, that was -- it sounds like all around very favorable responses. know from attending the debrief -- we had a discussion on it Monday -- oh, that was just Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 5 of 37 yesterday. Discussed it last night and I think that it was the consensus of the group, too, that it was something that they gained a great deal out of, too. We are excited about it. So, anything else from either of you? Knapp: No.. De Weerd: Well, thank you Abbey and Elizabeth for joining us. Appreciate it. Valtoff: Thank you. ~. City Council: Acceptance of Ada County Official Election Results and Canvass of Votes De Weerd: Okay. 6-B under City Council, Council, in front of you you do have -- well, will just turn this over to our City Clerk. Holman: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, we received the Ada county commissioners canvas the votes at their meeting after the --the general election, so this is just our acceptance of their canvassing of the votes and just reading it, so it's official in the record. And I believe the scanned documents should be in your laserFiche packets electronically. Bird: They are. Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: We have to vote on it, don't we? De Weerd: Yes. Bird: We have to have a motion. Are you ready? I would move that we accept the Ada county election results as presented to us. Hoaglun: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Madam Clerk. Roll-Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Hoaglun, yea. De Weerd: All ayes. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. De Weerd: Okay. I will ask our Commissioners to join us at this point and once they are up here and seated I will ask our clerk to call roll. Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 6 of 37 Freeman: Okay. Shall I go ahead and open this, Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yeah. Well, why don't you go ahead and open it and call roll. Item 7: Roll Call Attendance of the Planning and Zoning Commissioners X Tom O'Brien X_ Steve Yearsley O Michael Rohm _X_Joe Marshall X Scott Freeman -Chairman Freeman: At this time I would like to open the public hearing for the special meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Meridian for this date of November 29th, 2011, and let's begin with roll call. Do I need to take that? All right. Item 8: Certificate of Zoning Compliance (CZC) Year in Review Report De Weerd: Thank you, Mr. Freeman. We will go ahead and turn this over to Pete with Item No. 8. Friedman: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Commission. Before we launch into the agenda, this is really your meeting. I know you folks haven't had a chance to get together in quite awhile. We did present an agenda for you. It's kind of full, but we really feel that if there is some other items you would rather talk, please, feel free to do that or make some time so you can have some joint discussion amongst yourselves or other topics that may be of interest, so -- De Weerd: I wouldn't even say kind of, Pete. Friedman: You mean kind of full? Well, it's going to be a tag team effort and I have the good fortune of having probably the quicker ones, so I will try to get through those as quickly as I can. But first off I just wanted to do sort of the year in review for you in terms of some of the development. Obviously, as you drive around the community signs of it are everywhere. All of a sudden it looks like things have been coming out of the ground all over town and there is more to come. This past year we processed and issued 62 certificates of zoning compliance, seven conditional use permits. We had three preliminary plats with 206 residential and 53 nonresidential lots. Final plats we had eight, 126 lots, but our total square footage is our telling. We have over 180,000 square feet of residential development that we have either approved or permitted. We have almost 200,000 square feet of office space, an impressive 318,000 square feet of commercial space and even approaching 160,000 square feet of industrial space. So, it's been -- it's been a busy year, it's been a productive year, and I think it's been a very good year for the city and I think there is more to come next year. Some of the highlights of some of the more prominent projects -- obviously, fast Eddy's, they have Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 7 of 37 got the one on Pine open and they are rapidly getting close to getting the one at Overland up and going. Gramercy Apartments you really don't see them, because they are kind of hidden in the back there, but we have three large units going in up there. Those are under construction. Meadow Lake Village, we have done a CZC for yet another retirement apartment building and they are also putting in a memory care facility. Meridian Town Center, what can I say. We have approved a CZC for the overall layout of the buildings and the parking layout and the next two items that we have issued the CZC, the Marshalls and Big AI's, are the first -- the developments that are going in out there. It's been kind of interesting and will continue to be an interesting little waltz, because you have so many tenants and the developer does some of it and the tenants do some of it and sometimes they are not all talking to each other, so it's proving to be an interesting exercise for us. PKG has now opened their new building over off Pine. We understand this is the first of more to come. So, all of a sudden that whole Pinebridge area has taken on a new life and is coming out of the ground. It's not on here, but we have Life Church going in over at the Coors building. Regency At River Valley just north of Meridian Town Center has had their CZCs in and reviewed and approved 240 residential units. I think we are waiting to kind of get some of the utility issues straightened out out there. Again, it's been sort of a coordination between some various property owners on who is going to provide some of the utilities and the roads and that sort of thing. Rosauers is coming along. There is also a Les Schwab going along out there. Kind of as a side note, I was talking to an acquaintance who lives out that way and they said, golly, all of a sudden there is stuff happening out here and I don't have to go very far pretty soon to be able to do some of the things I need to do. So, that was interesting and fun to hear. Scentsy, again, as I said, they have -- you have seen a lot going on there and you're going to see a lot more going on come this spring. The Commission recently approved a Conditional Use Permit for the five story office building. They were in the next phase, the certificate of zoning compliance. That's out. They are talking about breaking ground come spring. So, things are going to be going up more out there. Southridge Apartments, the Commission did approve the conditional use. We will be coming back to you with the final DA for approval next week and, hopefully, that will be moving forward and maybe we will be seeing a CZC on that before too long. Walmart at Overland and Stoddard is moving forward. Sonya has been working on the certificate of zoning compliance for that and we are now starting to do some of the coordination for the new one up at Ten Mile and McMillan. We have got a couple of partnerships going on up there between two property owners to get an access road back behind it, because Walmart doesn't own the property where the right of way is supposed to be, but the adjacent property owner is willing to dedicate the right of way and Walmart will build half plus 12 and, then, the other property owner will build the other half of the road. So, again, that's one of those ones we kind of have to finesses in terms of how we get it through the approval process and insure that the public interest is protected so that we get the road. De Weerd: Pete, I guess I would also comment just to make sure, Council -- the distribution center, that's a second one. That's not the one that they are already Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 8 of 37 occupying and almost out of room. This is a second distribution center, so -- and they need to have that open by June; isn't that correct? Friedman: Yes. Madam Mayor, there is -- we are still working with them and they are still working on some of that, but once they have concluded some of their discussions that they -- they will be in. We have met with them and we understand their time lines and so it's really right now back in their hands with some negotiations that they are having to do. So, that's not all, but that certainly is most of the development that you have seen in the last year and I just want to acknowledged that other than Lori and Barbara, who couldn't be here tonight, that's your staff. That's who is doing all of this. They are doing the heavy lifting. I'm proud of them. You should be proud of them. look at -- I have friends that work in other cities, I look at other cities who are our size and bigger, they are not even doing a shadow of what are doing and they have larger staff, so -- De Weerd: Do they have them that young? Friedman: Well, he's in training. De Weerd: Oh. Okay. Friedman: He's in training. And he puts in a few nights at some of the meetings also. So, anyway, we will be pulling some more of this together for the annual report, plus some other highlights on some of the things we have been doing, but just an overview. I know, you know, you all see these as they come through in dribs and drabs throughout the year, but, you know, when you put it all together it certainly makes for an impressive year, especially given the past couple of years before that, so -- be happy to answer any of your questions or we will move on with the program. De Weerd: Council, Commission, any questions? Okay. Thank you, Pete. Friedman: Thank you. Item 9: Fairview Access Management Plan Presentation and Update De Weerd: So, Caleb, you will start with Item No. 9. Hood: Yes, Madam Mayor. De Weerd: Thank you. Hood: Members of the Council. Members of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Thank you all for being here tonight and contrary to what Pete may alluded to, I will be brief -- at least on these first couple ones, then, move through the agenda. Some of them may take a little more time, but do appreciate you all taking the time out tonight to Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 9 of 37 discuss these issues with us and these are the ones that we wanted to bring you up to speed on and get feedback on, so I think these are -- these are some things we are working on right now that are critical to what happens here in the city and, again, thank you for taking the time. The first one that I'm going to explain to you -- or bring you up to speed on -- and for the Council a lot of this will be review, but I have not had the opportunity to come to the Planning and Zoning Commission and talk to you about Fairview access management, so I want to give a pretty high level overview of what's gone on here over the past couple of years anyways and where we are at today. So, Fairview Avenue between Linder and Orchard has been under study. The goal of the plan is to balance local land use planning and economic goals with safe and efficient operation of Fairview Avenue. What you see on the screen there is a snap shot of about a half mile of the corridor and this is -- we are talking about an eight mile corridor here that goes through Meridian and Boise along Cherry-Fairview and there are two roles in this, but the purpose of the access management plan is to increase safety and reduce congestion on Fairview by using a set of tools that allow both the cities and ACRD to control access. Now, this isn't something that's going to happen overnight. It is a long term plan. So, with redevelopment some of these tools that I alluded to, like cross-access or even closing driveways, going to right-in, right-out, will occur and that will be something that the city, in coordination with ACHD, will be working on. Some of it will also be project driven. So, ACRD right now has a project that in draft A of their current five year work plan is scheduled for 2017. So, it's still a few years out there, but the blue line that you see in the middle of Cherry Lane in this example would be a center raised median, which would eliminate a lot of left turning movements. So, that would be something that the highway district would take on in this scenario if this plan is adopted and they move forward with designing the center median project and I will talk a little bit more about that in just a minute. So, I mentioned -- so, some of the tools are, again, cross-access, which I mentioned. Medians. U-turns. And right-in, right-out driveways are the primary means to achieve access management. Now, to kind of bring you up to what's happened here in the recent past. September 14th ACHD held a public involvement meeting. More than 3,000 invitations were mailed. They put up sandwich boards. E-mail invitations. Advertised in the Statesman. We had 96 people attend and 102 written comments were received. Fifty-one of those represented themselves as business owners, which is a good proportion of those approximate 100 people that were there, about half were business owners, or at least stated they were there representing a business, so -- and what we heard back -- and this was in the memo. What we heard back wasn't all that positive, to be just quite blunt about it, and the highway district is kind of tapping the brakes on this at this point and wanting to fully understand those concerns, work with those business owners, see what could be tweaked in this draft access management plan to make sure nothing rash happens and that we don't make the problem worse than it is currently. So, I did want to share with you -- I did communicate a little bit today with the project manager at ACRD, Lisa Applebee, as well as Sally Goddell -- and I think it might just be easiest for me to read the last portion of that e-mail chain from Sally today. And it says we want to make sure we let the community know that we heard many adverse comments and are working on a game plan to bring stakeholders, especially businesses, back into the discussion as Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 10 of 37 we did early in the concept design work. Now that we have the attention of the business community we want to take advantage of that and engage them in a discussion about the larger problems we all face and how we move forward. We want to put access management in the context of Fairview and the full suite of options we have, linking the stakeholders about how to unfold the improvements over time. So, there was -- last year there was a rush to get this done. It's been hanging out there for four or five years. We finally got businesses to the table and they aren't so supportive of the project. So, as was stated, we are going to be working with them some more and trying to -- I don't know if compromise is the right word, but work with them on a plan that works for everybody. So, I see this going on into next year, figuring out a way that we can unfold those improvements. So, one of the next first steps in this process will be a joint meeting with the City Council, ACHD, and the City of Boise and that should happen sometime just after the first of the year. So, I think that's where a lot of kind of those next steps will be discussed among the elected officials about what do we do about this and how do we proceed forward. So, I know ACHD the wheels are spinning about proposing some things for you all to consider at that joint meeting. But look for that invite anyway, so -- and, then, for the Commission -- I'm sorry I didn't get into a bunch of the details today, but there is additional information that you can find on ACHD's website on this project or you always can contact me and we can run through something -- any questions you may have. But in a nutshell that's -- that's what's been going on with the access management plan and, then, the project being a center median project at ACRD. So, with that, Madam Mayor, I will stand for any questions you may have. De Weerd: Thank you, Caleb. Rountree: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. Rountree: Caleb, what's -- what are the expectations of ACHD in the first of the year meeting with the City of Meridian, Boise, and ACHD? Hood: That's a good question and I haven't asked that. I think -- reading between some of the lines, I think one of the questions is what do you expect this to become or do we want it to become anything. I think they may be at a decision point where do we press forward or do we really re-think this -- some of the other expectations or maybe ways to tackle this that ACHD is looking at is -- and it's not only apples to apples, but what ITD is doing on Eagle Road and how they are going about designing and implementing center medians on Eagle Road and what may work for them and what may not work with that project. So, they are going to wait a couple years and see how that plays out I think. Again, two different roadways, context are different, but they are some of the first -- I know Boise has some center medians, but those have been there for a long time. So, retrofitting with center medians -- but, again, Councilman Rountree, I don't know what the expectations are. Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 11 of 37 Rountree: Madam Mayor. My concern is that we have been through this already. And now it appears we are starting over and I know Councilman Zaremba and Bird have spent many hours in a good portion of, what, over a year working on this coordination committee. It would be nice to know what ACHD's expectations are, so when we go to the meeting we have a sense of where they want to go. It seems to me like they just want to walk away from this and put it on the back burner for awhile and if that's the case I don't know what value a meeting is going to have. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: Actually, I think it's been going on longer than that. I think I started going to the first meetings probably four years ago and it maybe was being discussed at CICAC before that. But it doesn't seem right to me that the option would be to do nothing or to stay the way we are. I realize this -- you know, a few years ago when everything was growing real fast it seemed there were a lot of projects, including this one, that seemed like they needed to be done immediately and I think we have some more breathing room now that the economy and growth has slowed down, but I don't want to see the idea dropped. I mean the impetus in the first place was the safety issues of what happens with that much traffic and that's left turning at what appear to be many random places -- hundreds of them in that eight square -- eight mile length. I'm certainly familiar with medians from other cities and -- and they do work well. They -- if they bare designed right and there are proper u-turn places. So, I'm -- while I say this doesn't need to be done tomorrow, I'm uncomfortable with letting it drop, because the original issue is still there. We need to improve the safety, as well as the traffic flow, and medians work and the thing that I think other cities have found -- and we do need to be careful how it's designed, but there is a perception among people that are not familiar with medians that it will kill all the businesses and that really doesn't happen. It -- people that want to go to a business find a way to get their making right turns. They may miss it the first time they try and go, but by the second time they try and go they -- they know how to get there and they -- if they want to go to the business they can go. So, I -- we do need to listen to the concerns of the business owners and work things out, but I don't think that should stop us. Hood: And, Madam Mayor, if I can just clarify, I didn't mean to imply that the project is stopping. They are tapping the brakes and want to consider those comments and make sure they are addressed before a median gets put in Fairview. I also -- it's not just about the center median, though, either. Some of the comments received from the people are just about access is shown on this plan and who they are sharing with and delivery trucks and making sure that if you do put it there that that business can still operate, you know, that they do -- you know. And there is several hundred businesses along this corridor and we try -- we know kind of institutionally where some of those are, but we learned some, too, and said, oh, this is what you -- business operation in the Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 12 of 37 middle of the night, you have these big trucks come in and you need this to happen -- I mean those are some of the tweaks that we are talking about. So, I haven't heard them say we are stopping this or putting it down, it's just we want to make sure that the plan moving forward is feasible and we don't do something that is -- yes, the safety and congestion issues are still there and we need to do something about that, but popping down a center median and saying you need to share that driveway there on paper may look okay, but in real life in certain instances it may not work. So, I didn't mean to imply that this isn't going anywhere, but it isn't moving as rapidly as it was just a few months ago, so -- De Weerd: Any other comments? Marshall: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Joe. Marshall: Caleb, just an observation. And I'm on board with you, Councilman Zaremba, in that I do have background here and I have done a lot of studying on this. I do know that there is a lot of information showing what would not be intuitive -- that intuitively if I don't have an access right in front of my store it -- I need those things, but -- and I appreciate the fact that they are taking the time to work with the businesses. I think that's vitally important to make sure everything works out there. But I think one of the things we are up against in this case is a number of media reports that I have seen have had simply a paragraph touting the virtues of this and, then, four and five pages of everyone against it that has no real background in design -- in traffic design and they are all mad because somebody is going to take away the access directly in front of my store or people can't turn left into my store and I think there is a lack of information out there and I don't know how that can be disseminated. I think we are up against that and -- I appreciate the fact that all those opinions and everything and everybody needs to be heard and brought to the table, but at the same time I think there is a lack of knowledge on this, because I -- what I know of from what I have read and studied, I'm not hearing in the media, if that makes any sense. That's just my comment. Hood: Madam Mayor, just to that, I can let you know ACRD is considering bringing out -- because they don't have a lot of experience in this either. They are considering bringing in some outside professionals from other states that do this to help with that education component internally, as well as with the outreach to businesses to show them success stories and maybe even bring in other businesses to say I had those same concerns, they built it, and it's not as what I was expecting. So, kind of that peer to peer and the traffic engineer from outside that has built -- has done these in other places to assist them. So, those are the types of things I think they will probably put on the table at that joint meeting for consideration. I don't -- again, I don't know what the expectations are, but I know that that -- they realize that, too, that there is an education component internally, as well as with people that will be expected to drive this corridor, so -- Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 13 of 37 De Weerd: Is there any chance that they can use the simulated modeling where it shows the traffic flowing with the medians, first is without and where some of the -- the traffic conflict points are created and Iguess -- and that came up in a conversation today. People are very visual and if they can see what is being proposed and how it makes it better than what currently exists, that always speaks much better than some static picture or -- and, then, they have to kind of imagine what it all means. Hood: Madam Mayor, they can do that. In fact, they have done some of that with the last public involvement and out reach, they had a -- they didn't do the entire corridor, because that would be very expensive. De Weerd: Yeah. Hood: But they did pick about a quarter mile or a half mile section to show how -- and it was just on a loop, so the same cars just making the loop and here is somebody that wanted to turn left and here is somebody that wanted to make a u-turn and here is how you would get from A to B if you're this car and just kept running that. I don't know how many people accessed it, but it was ACHD's -- it may still be there. It was on ACHD's website to just kind of do that. It was animated cars and they also had some just static diagrams, too, that showed all the conflict points that you're talking with that if everybody turns left here is every place that you could crash into each other or -- as a car turns right and this one turns left and so they do have some of that. It was fairly low tech, but they did take a specific example on this corridor and, again, show how you could maneuver that -- again, I don't know how many hits they had on that, but that was a component, they do some more and do -- it's very expensive to do. I learned that that's not cheap to do that, but I think this is an important project and that may be one of the things that -- another tool that they look at using more of as this goes forward, because I agree, I mean seeing it and how you're -- what's expected and the implications, you're going to learn a lot just by watching a short video or whatever. So, I can ask them again if that's something that they can look into some more and we think that that would be a good tool. De Weerd: Are some of the other comments on cross -- the cross-easements and how some of those accesses will be gained and what it means to their current parking lots and -- is that some of the concern? Hood: Madam Mayor, yeah, there is certainly concern over -- or shared driveways and what that would mean for existing parking, if you have to stub a driveway across. But in a lot of instances you could take a couple of stalls you lost there and put them where your driveway currently is on Fairview. So, it's anet -- you know, no net loss of parking stalls over time and, you know, this isn't something, as I mentioned before, that happens overnight. We do want to account for this, but it may be some time before we make those connections and actually close those driveways, because it will take redevelopment of multiple parcels, usually, for that connection to happen and until that Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 14 of 37 connection happens everybody gets to keep their driveway. Some of them do get limited to right-in, right-out if a median goes in, but the concerns were kind of all over the board with restricting to right-in, right-out was a concern, losing driveways, obviously, was a concern. Just that it wouldn't work to share with my neighbor, because my neighbor does this or that and I do this or that and just didn't think that that would work. And, quite honestly, some of those concerns I think were legitimate. There is a Commercial Tire over on Fairview near Orchard and it would be very difficult for them to maneuver in and out of there with what we currently have in the plan. So, I think it was just some of those things where understanding and really taking a detailed look at some of those examples helps. So, concerns were kind of all over the -- all over the place, but -- it wasn't all negative either. I talked to the library. It's a lot about education. Its a -- you know, Iheard -- I heard from a lot of the folks in Meridian that this is something that's needed, that, yeah, I don't turn left already. I don't -- I just don't do it, so -- and accidents out in front of my business or my home, I see it. We just had the police out there last week was one of the comments that I heard, because there was an accident there. So, you know, I think something happened out there, I'm not advocating necessarily for a median right now, but, you know, Fairview is not going to get better if we do nothing. So, I think some more discussion and there is work still to be done on this corridor. O'Brien: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes. O'Brien: I have an Ada County District -- or Highway District relative that works in the -- in the institution and the philosophy that they have really is we are not going to build it until they need it. That's the philosophy at Ada county. That's the bottom line. And that's why things seem so slow. This particular situation you have here in their eyes -- Now, I'm not -- don't quote me about -- you know, from hierarchy up here that that's what they do, this is just an internal feeling, perception that people have within that organization. The situation we have here is -- because of the slow -- of the slow growth and the down turn of the economy, is an opportunity to make decisions now when we maybe not need it and not the slow down of this thing, but we should speed up, if anything, to have it ready when that need does come, so that we are ready to put in place those things that we need to have to make it successful. That's my take. Item 10: Airport Road -Overland Road Study Presentation and Update De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. If there is nothing further on this item we will move to Item No. 10. Hood: So, the next item, Item 10, is, again, review primarily for the Council, but I think it's good for the Commissioners to hear some of Council's comments if you have any and just -- I thought I would take this opportunity to let them know what's happening. So, you know, about over the past year Airport Road in Nampa to Ten Mile Road in Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 15 of 37 Meridian has been under study and a corridor alignment was developed for the extension of Overland Road. This was a collaborative effort between Meridian and Nampa -- Nampa Highway District No. 1 and ACRD. The intent of the study was to identify a direct route between the Nampa airport and the new Ten Mile-Overland intersection. There were six alternatives that were originally developed with input from stakeholders, the public, the cities, highway districts and, then, two alternatives kind of rose to the top after a whole bunch of factors were considered and those were put out for the public at a second public meeting and alternative 2-B was the preferred alternative from the public. I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 to 65 percent of folks preferred alternative 2-B. From a technical standpoint 2-B and 2-C were real -- real close neck and neck as far as alternatives and I put those -- all six of the alternatives were in the memo that I prepared for this meeting. What you see on the screen is the preferred alternative and I'm sorry it's bits and pieces, but this is alternative 2-B. It was the preferred alignment as recommended by the technical advisory committee -- the City Council did recently as well send a letter over to ACRD stating that this alignment is the one that is preferred as well and ACRD highway district acted on it. The 2035 traffic projections show that the existing road segments actually only warrant a three lane section for the two miles that are in Ada county. So, we are going to go from east to west, but Ten Mile basically -- oops. From Ten Mile to Black Cat, McDermott for the two miles that are in Ada county, only really warrant a three lane roadway, but that is primarily due to the existing land use designations that we have in south Meridian. So, we will be looking -- relooking at that the beginning of this next year. We will ask those stakeholders, you know, if there are land use designations that we can put on the properties that permanently today cross-hatched with a future planning area designation. And, then, the need for three lanes -- or maybe potentially a five lane roadway depending on densities, will be reevaluated, but the alignment, if I can draw on here. The alignment of that roadway -- it shouldn't change. So, there is a center line roadway, basically -- and, I'm sorry, Ican't -- can't draw on here, but hopefully you all know there is a fire station -- future fire station that's kind of shown around where Overland intersects Ten Mile today and, then, continues to the west for two miles. So, that alignment anyway, the center line of that we don't anticipate changing. But, again, the cross-section of that roadway may change if some of the low densities you see on the screen in some of that future planning area gets intensified, the modeling may show a need for that to eventually be a five lane roadway. So, that's my, again, quick overview. I think the Planning Commission knows at least that there -- when Ten Mile was done, you know, obviously there is a need for Overland to be extended to the west and this study was something that -- that fine tuned that a little bit and said this is the best place for that to be extended. So, again, I have that study and I can share with you more of the technical details and even get you copies of that study if you're interested, but I just wanted to let you know it's out there and that will be one of the base line things that we will be using -- base line studies that we will be using as we engage stakeholders in south Meridian to talk about future land uses, so -- again, Madam Mayor, if there are any comments or questions or anything you want to talk about with that Airport-Overland study, I will stand for them now. Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 16 of 37 De Weerd: Anything from Commission or Council? Thank you, Caleb. Item 11: South Meridian Future Land Use Request for Proposal (RFP) Information Hood: And I'm going to -- Item No. 11 is Pete and, then, I will be back here in just a moment. Friedman: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, Members of the Commission. That was a good segue. What we have up here is our future land use map for south Meridian. If you will recall, it's been, oh, about five years since we completed the last south Meridian future land use amendment and out of that came two significant products. One was the area that is colored where we actually were able to arrive at some designations having worked with the property owners and the public and going through that interactive process and, of course, the second was solidifying the area of city impact. What we didn't get to was that whole area that's cross-hatched, because we went back and forth -- if you recall, I think we started with three alternatives and, then, we went to four alternatives and, then, we went to five alternatives. At the point where we did the three alternatives we found the road system couldn't handle what we were proposing and at that time we said, you know, there is no pressure -- I mean there was -- there was a lot of pressure at that time in terms of people buying property, but there was no development pressure. Ten Mile interchange wasn't open yet, there weren't a lot of utilities down there, and so we said, well, we will be back when the time is right. Well, the time is right. Council approved an enhancement in our 2012 budget to engage in professional services to assist the city, essentially, painting the colors into that area, but also incorporating into that serviceability transportation, engaging our partner city of Kuna, city of Nampa, the two highway districts, COMPASS -- it's actually come together quite well in terms of the timing, the Ada County Highway District has allocated some funds, and so we will be able to work with them as we go through this process. We won't have to wait for them, we will bring them right along as partners in that. So, what we did was we went out with an RFP, we had six proposals that we reviewed and after reviewing the six proposals we interviewed the two top contenders and we picked the top one. We are going to be negotiating the scope of work with Parametrics tomorrow morning. I think I saw Christine sneak in here. Christine McCoy will be taking up the -- at least the public engagement part of it for Parametrics and Christine was pretty instrumental, as a matter of fact, on the Airport Road study, so she's very familiar with the area. And once we have negotiated the scope of work we hope to get back to Council in mid December with a contract and, then, kick this process off probably in January. We are looking at a -- kind of a mid to late January to May process and we are pretty excited about what they have proposed to. I think it's -- the public involvement part is actually going to be pretty fun, being able to come up with some of the ideas they have used, some of the new technologies that the city has acquired since -- in the last five years. Brian is very adept in a couple of these visualization softwares that we have been able to obtain, so -- and you will all have an opportunity to be involved in that. So, we are looking forward to that and it's Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 17 of 37 going to be a fairly quick and robust process, but one of the things we really did emphasize was the public involvement and, again, the program that Parametrics presented to us was -- stood out above most of the others. So, anyway, we are pleased to report that and, again, be back to you in a couple weeks with that contract, so -- any questions? Rountree: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Rountree. Rountree: Pete, does quick and robust have a timeline? Friedman: We are negotiating that tomorrow, but the contract will probably spell -- originally the deliverables I had in the original proposal was a draft to us by April 2nd and Commission, review deliverable by April 27th, I believe in consultation with the Mayor, plus some of the other work we have been doing in the incorporated part of the city with South Meridian, we have kind of pushed that out, so I think we are going to be looking at -- kind of remove those dates from April to May, But, you know, it's a pretty closed end contract. De Weerd: Well, I just might add with the riew leadership in Kuna, there might be opportunities to get greater involvement than we have seen in the past, which is hopeful. Friedman: Yeah. I did have a -- along those lines I did have an a-mail from the Kuna planning director today saying that they were looking forward to working with us and being engaged in this process and in speaking with Mr. Dees, a little bit about the utility stuff. It's going to be critical that I know there has been discussions at the Public Works Department and the Kuna Public works department, so I need to have those happening as part of this conversation and so that we can, you know, come to some common understanding about serviceability down there. And I would say it's hopeful. Friedman: Thank you. Item 12: Potential Comprehensive Plan Text Amendments Discussion Hood: So, Mayor, Council, Members of the Commission, kind of working back from what Pete said, that April, May, time frame. There are some changes to our Comprehensive Plan that we would like to make before that. These changes that we are contemplating -- and I would call your attention to the memo that I prepared for tonight's meeting in your packet -- because I'm going to run through that real quick. There are -- there are quite a few changes -- half a dozen or so anyways that -- that we would propose before we get done with south Meridian and any text changes that may go along with the future land use designations. I anticipate some changes to the plan. It's primarily a map amendment, but I imagine we will need some text to explain some of Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 18 of 37 the changes. So, rather than convolute some of these changes, I'm going to speak with you right now. We are going to process the comp plan amendment here probably the first of the year we will get the application submitted. I was shooting for December and, then, it will probably be before the Planning and Zoning Commission in January and, then, onto Council in February is a rough timeline. So, with that being said, I want to run through some of the ones that we have identified already needing changed in the new and improved, award winning, Comprehensive Plan. So, the first one is on page 44 of the comp plan. There is some text regarding a future acquisitions map. That text currently states that the city staff will work on putting together a future acquisitions map. That text currently states that the city staff will work on putting together a future acquisitions map. I did discuss this issue with the Council on August 9th and I received directions to forego a plan at least at this point, and instead work on a master facilities map. So, we have not developed that map as of yet, but that map will be, when it's composed, primarily used for internal use in coordination, but we anticipate also being used as development occurs. So, I won't read through the strike through and underlining in the memo, I just want to call your attention that I will be cleaning that section up so it doesn't state that they will be pursuing a future acquisitions map at this point. However, it did make some sense to me to leave that somewhat open and still have a section on a future acquisitions map and rather than going at a future facilities map and make it clear that we are not invoking that portion of state code that would allow us to condemn that if we have to or negotiate it, but just that we are trying to coordinate things and we have a map that we will use for Parks and Public Works and fire stations can all know where -- where utilities are going. So, that's the first proposed change and I have some -- some draft text in there. And stop me at anytime if there is any of these that you want to discuss or don't like how it's worded. I will let you know you may see some other tweaks before we actually submit this application, but at least at its first blush this is the intent of some of these text changes. The second text change that I wanted to call to your attention has to do with the Ten Mile specific area plan, which is adopted by incorporation into the comp plan and there are a number of sections where the text does not fully describe the intent. The descriptions are open to misinterpretation and where the text conflicts with other city documents, like the UDC. So, the proposed changes are intended to bring additional clarification for the Ten Mile plan and create greater consistency with those other documents and tools that we have. The proposed changes are generally clarifications of text in Chapter 3 and all relate to look and feel of new development. The largest proposed change is specific to canopies and awnings and intended to bring greater consistency again to the UDC. There are going to be some corollary changes to the UDC, so they marry up nicely, but it was just some inconsistencies, as I mentioned, between the two documents -- the guiding documents and the actual code, so we are trying to make that a little more clear what the intent of some of that is. So, that's proposed text change number two and there are multiple pages within the Ten Mile interchange plan that we will be amending. A third change is a change to the table in the goals, objectives, and action items and, again, if you have that memo handy we cut and pasted a sample page. Today the priority column, as well as the ID column -- and I don't know if we will keep it ID column, but we are trying to figure out a way to number those priorities for easy reference, Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 19 of 37 because right now you can -- you can write the text down, but nobody -- if you're looking for it within the comp plan you have to scan through almost the entire thing to -- and some of these tables are pretty lengthy. So, trying to figure out a way that we can cross-reference the actual policy statements and give them a -- some type of number system. And the priorities we have been working on with other departments over the past year and we do have now priorities from all those departments on the objectives and goals, where that department was listed as the responsible lead. So, we are going to go ahead and propose those changes with this -- this plan. I imagine that will warrant probably some discussion when -- at the public hearings, so -- but those are from each individual department and we did get good participation rates from amongst folks and appreciate the departments participating in that exercise. The fourth one that I want to call to your attention is in the existing conditions report, which, again, is part of the comp plan that contains an error where some of the text got covered by a graphic, so it's just kind of a scrivener's error, but we wanted to clean that up a little bit, that formatting error, so that one I won't spent too much time on. The fifth one I failed to make into your memo, so this -- this change is -- has to do with the downtown transportation network and Chapter 3 and the section currently makes mention of two north-south improvements, so split corridor and the 3rd Street extension, but doesn't have any mention of a possible east-west extension. So, this change would be to do -- to explain the need for an east-west connection, basically, between Pine and the railroad tracks or even Fairview and the railroad tracks. It isn't a very good connection between Main Street and Locust Grove east-west in that half mile or even the full mile between Franklin and Fairview. But this is specific to downtown and getting better circulation in downtown. So, I have blown up an aerial of the subject area and -- try this one more time see if I can get it to -- my arrows went away. Can you go back for me, Pete? There we go. So, the text basically explains how Idaho and Broadway extension to connect with Commercial Drive, which does come out to Locust Grove, is a necessary east-west connection, beginning at the railroad tracks here and Pine you can read. But there really isn't anything coming in besides Pine into the downtown area east-west. You can even see north of Pine, not very good connectivity there and so this -- again, this policy in the text addition would propose to get that connection downtown. So, I'm sorry, I didn't get that into your memo, but you can review that text with the application. It is fairly brief, but it just goes into explain basically what I just said verbally how there is a need in this area for that connectivity, so -- so next steps. So, I'm looking for any feedback you may have on these. I realize most of these aren't earth shattering policy type things, but I did want to give you the opportunity at least before we submit the application to -- to give us any feedback and streamline that process, so we can make these changes. I do also call to your attention there are some mixed use designations, changes, some clean ups in Chapter 3 that we would like to make for consistency cross-referencing applicable zoning districts and those types of things. But, again, nothing too significant that we will need to spend too much time on. So, we will submit that here just as soon as we can and, then, the next wave should hopefully include what we do here in south Meridian. So, with that, Madam Mayor -- De Weerd: Thank you, Caleb. Any comments from Council or Commission? Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 20 of 37 Rountree: I have none. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I was just going to comment I appreciate the things that you're identifying that need to be fixed and going the right direction. De Weerd: Is your mike on? Zaremba: No, it was not on. Now it is. I'll repeat that. De Weerd: Want to say it again? Zaremba: Yeah. I appreciate, Caleb, the things that you're identifying that need to be fixed and other things that you realize need to be in there and I just wanted to comment that I appreciate that you're going the right direction with it. Hood: Thank you. De Weerd: I guess with -- in regard to the Ten Mile plan, it doesn't -- in looking at it, it doesn't look like there is substantial changes, but you may want to look at some of the participants in that and run it by a couple of them just to gain some perspective on maybe we don't think they are substantial, but they might. Hood: Will do. Thank you. De Weerd: Okay. Item 13: Downtown Right-of-Way and Streetscape Standards Presentation Hood: Okay. Moving right along. Item 13. And this is going to be new stuff for everybody. This is something that I have been working on and Brian McClure has been helping me out quite a bit on this, coming up with standards for right of way in downtown and taking over, essentially, regulation of the area between back of curb and face of building and the area shown in orange, I guess. Red. The orangish color there in our downtown core. And a lot of this came about -- and Brian will talk to you a little bit more in the next agenda item, but he did some out reach in coordination with some of the Mayor's office staff, we had Public Works staff go, and MDC staff was part of the door knocking experience in -- in downtown -- the downtown core as identified by Destination Downtown and some of what Brian heard from some of those stakeholders was a concern for the ability of downtown businesses to compete with some of the projects that Pete mentioned, like Meridian Town Center, or Ten Mile projects that are Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 21 of 37 happening and they wanted to have some allowance that would allow them to highlight their businesses that currently weren't allowed. So, Brian primarily drafted some guidelines that are intended to provide additional allowance and greater ability for businesses, such as cafes and restaurants, to build upon and reinforce the historic charm of the city core, to create a unique draw and attract more people into the core and to benefit -- and to the benefit of all businesses and the public. So, some of the things that are called out in some of the draft standards are -- are bike racks, planters, tables, chairs, patio areas, fencing, those types of things. News stands. Are all -- are all talked about and would be allowed with the city being the ones that would take over the responsibility for permitting those and regulating that area, at least in the orange area again that you see here. Today, again, those things -- it's not feasible with ACRD regulating them today, given that license agreement. We heard some of the feedback that it's -- it's costly at ACHD, some of the regulations aren't very business friendly, so we have heard some of those comments and we have tried to craft it into something that does that balancing act of not giving away the farm, but you allow those things to happen within reason, for lack of a better term, and Brian I think has come up with some good standards for what is acceptable and what -- you know, to maintain that charm and what would be unacceptable and a detriment to downtown. So, again, these draft rules are intended to provide greater flexibility and use of the public right of way within the city core while encouraging a unique atmosphere for stakeholders to capitalize and build on. Staff also seeks to prevent nuances which detract from the intent of the certificate process and prevent usage which negatively impacts the general public and the need for enforcement by the city and that's one of the things that we need to talk with code enforcement and legal a little bit more is what do we do if someone is in violation of these, what are our steps. So, several streets within the core are currently incredibly limited on street -- streetscape frontage due to limitations imposed by two way streets and parking. Some of the streets, such as Idaho, are among the most charming in representational of traditional downtown and staff made all efforts to permit for additional allowances. So, if you look through some of the standards we still allow some of those outdoor seating areas, although they don't have a full width's right of way or sidewalk in front of those businesses. We need to, obviously, maintain a pedestrian way and so you can't block that, but there are some allowances made for some hardships in the existing environment. So, the document as was provided in the packet is just kind of an informational dump. It's everything. It's not formatted to be code. It's not formatted to be handed out to the general public as an FAQ, it's just kind of everything at this point. So, I wanted to get it out in front of you. I have been coordinating with Emily Kane in legal, Tim Curns, Public Works, And Jay Givens in Parks primarily. After that we will expand -- we will cast a little bit wider net and talk to, like I mentioned, police department, clerks may play a role in some of this and they have already been at one meeting -- we had a big roundtable meeting before this kicked off and said where should we start. But now that we kind of have a starting point we will bring those folks back together, pull bits and pieces out, some of it will go in city code, some of it will just be informational for our property owners to say can I -- you know, what if I want to establish an outdoor seating area, what's the process and it will explain, at least in draft form, we are looking at a certificate of zoning verification would be the Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 22 of 37 process that we have established. It's over the counter. It's, you know, within a couple of days we will have that -- that application reviewed and permitted. Also of note that we have -- what we have tried to do in this process is try to limit those things -- in fact, I think there is maybe only one or two that may require building permits. So, these are things where because your fence isn't as high, because your decking isn't a certain height off the ground, you don't need building permits. Now, there may be some plumbing, there may be some electrical permits you need for certain things, but for the most part it's something where you can come in and within a week or so you could hire a contractor to do, with a permit in hand, go and do whatever you're trying to do, whether it be, again, a news stand out in front or a patio dining area. So, I think with that I'll just see if you -- hopefully, you have all had a chance to read through this. I will show you kind of the realm we are talking about. So, it's -- I think this really tells a good story of what -- what we are trying to regulate and what's necessary, so -- and some of the terminology. That was one of the things that right off the beginning we used terminology that isn't intuitive. So, we define these things for folks and start off with this exhibit that shows what we are talking about and when we talk about street furnishing zone, what does that mean. Well, we are talking about lights and trees, basically. Sometimes you can put a news stand in that area. Clear zone. That one's pretty intuitive. But the use area really is that area between building face and that clear zone where we envision most of these permits or requests for improvements to happen. So, that's -- that's what we are talking about today and you don't have to give me your comments now, but I would encourage you to review that document and send them to either myself or Brian and we will definitely consider those as we move forward or I guess before we get too far down the road just want to make sure we are going in the right direction. I mean is this something you think the city should not doing and, if not, we need to know that, too, because I don't want to invest anymore time if -- if you think it's not broken and ACHD should continue to do their thing with license agreements with those property owners, we can pat Brian on the back and say good job and we will move on to other things. So, just to check in with you and -- I didn't get into a lot of the details with the standards, but that's what we are talking about here. Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Just a quick question, Caleb. I just -- I think it's page seven here on furniture. We are talking outdoor amenities and different things, but it says vinyl and plastic furniture is prohibited and I'm thinking, okay, what does that mean? What are they going to put out there? Is it wood? Is it metal? I mean when you're in an outdoor environment and is that all vinyl, all metal? Is it partial? I was just kind of curious about that. I haven't gone through anything -- you know, talk about predominately not white, it's less reflective, I understand that, but I was just kind of curious about -- Hood: We do have a standard, Councilman Hoaglun, Madam Mayor. We do have -- and let me see if I can find it. So, furniture -- that's where you're at on page seven. Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 23 of 37 Tables, chairs, and benches. So, the next section down does say what types of material is allowed, basically. So, size and shapes, we aren't regulating that. Tables, chairs, and benches should reflect a similar style in appearance to each other. Upholstered chairs are allowed, but are required to be maintained in good condition and adhere to code requirements. We had it somewhere. I'm not finding it. Maybe Brian can come up real quick. I know we had a metal standard in here before, but I'm not able to identify it. I thought it was right there. Hoaglun: I was just curious, because there is some -- some plastics out there and different things that are pretty -- pretty amazing in what they do with them now and I can see the -- white plastic chairs are not the esthetic we are going for, but at the same time if there are some other things out there that really look good and happen to be plastic, I'm not necessarily opposed to it, but I guess it's always in the eye of the beholder. So, those are always tough. But I don't know if I just want to make a blanket prohibition on anything plastic with what they do these days. So, it's one of those balancing acts. Hood: And that's a good comment and I think it's something we can consider and put examples, some composites that have some plastics in there may be appropriate. So, those are the types of comments we are looking for, because we had -- and I'm not even sure if it's still here now. We had -- we were regulating logos on umbrellas on those areas, you know, you can't have rainbow colored umbrellas -- -maybe it's appropriate, maybe it isn't, because it is in the eye of the beholder. So, we didn't want to go over the top with overregulating it, but we did want to have some standards, so it's just not, you know, pink flamingos on the sidewalk, but we drew that line and that's why we are here is to say here is where we kind of drew the line, what do you think, is it too much and where would you like to see a little more or where are at, so -- did you find the furniture -- McClure: No. Madam Mayor, the intention originally was to have wood and metal in there. At some point during the edit they got removed for whatever reason, but definitely the consideration for plastic that looks like metal or whatever would be good, so -- Hoaglun: Yeah. Again, it's got to be high quality stuff. I mean that's what we are looking to make a nice esthetic -- and if that plastic doesn't look like plastic, you know. But I will leave that to you to find if there is a way to reference that, so -- Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I might relate that same thing to some philosophy we have used on some other things with our conditions and permits and that is that if we have a plan and we have a line that's drawn like that and I tend to agree with it, somebody that needs to go through the permit process, if they are proposing something that we have already Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 24 of 37 agreed with, then, their permit process is easy. We might say it's possible to appeal something else, I mean if they have found some attractive furniture that happened to be plastic and would survive the temperature changes that they would go through outside, there would be a process for appealing that prohibition. That makes it a little harder for them not to follow our original guidelines, but it does leave it open that we could consider something if they were suggesting it. De Weerd: And I guess it's why we are avoiding certain things, the light weight plastics in a wind storm, you know, picks up and it becomes a hazard. I guess we want it to not look like we are trying to take their freedoms away, but what the thought process is behind some of the things that are discouraged. Mr. Marshall. Marshall: I hate to add to bureaucracy, but just -- you know, I would like to see a lot of -- a number of pre-approved options, but couldn't we handle it kind of like we do with architecture and have a design review committee, you know, made up of the merchants down there, self-policing almost, because aren't they going to be the people living next door to it and they want things to look nice next to them, but they also know that they may be next. Hood: Yeah. And, Madam Mayor, Commissioner Marshall and Councilman Zaremba, I think kind of a merging of what you two just said, I think that appeal may be some -- maybe it's even just -- you know, the design review committee or whatever, if -- for certain standards if you have got plastic or something, you could -- that looks -- looks nice. I mean who gets to decide that? Well, it's -- maybe it's not an appeal, but you need to -- if you don't have that pre-approval, if you don't meet these standards as written, we are not going to make it ten hoops you have to jump through, but you do need to go to this committee and they meet within ten days or whatever and we can make it so it's not overly rigorous to get through that process, but it still does have -- there is some checks and balances there where some standards are adhered to and if you adhere to them you're moving on within days. If you need a little bit of help getting through that process, we will help you through or at least consider it. So, I think some of those comments we can work in this process and streamline it and allow for things that are outside of what we have got written anyways. Marshall: One other comment, Madam Mayor. Is there any option for the five foot typical clear zone to meander, as in allowing that eight foot street furnishing zone to actually enlarge and, then, push that close to the store and, then, back out, maybe even be demarked somehow if it does somehow mark if it does meander. I mean -- I don't know. It was just a thought. Hood: Madam Mayor, Commissioner Marshall, I'd have to look at the ADA requirements. I mean that's an ADA thing. I know you can -- it can vary back and forth. I don't know that you need to delineate it, you just need to maintain that width and I don't think you can 90 degree and, then, go, but you may be able to sort of have it meander a little bit, but, again, I'm not well versed in that ADA requirement, so we Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 25 of 37 definitely need it to be consistent and contiguous, but -- and the standards are written where the first -- the improvement zones happen near the building first and build their way out. You can't do your patio right in the middle and have your clear zone next to the building. So, it is a building towards street first type approach for those improvements. So, there may be a little meandering, but it won't be -- trying to get through everything, so -- Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Just one more comment. Where I work downtown Boise and close to 8th Street and they have got a lot of that and it gets interesting how tight it gets some -- with the art, with light poles, with signage, bike racks, and it gets to be almost a rat race -- it's always a rat race down there anyway, but it is interesting where you can have some meandering, but it's done in a way that allows just room for people to move. So, I'm kind of interested in that, instead of everything being linear and it kind of -- would be kind of nice. The one thing I see down there -- because I have sat under it and we talked about page five, mechanical equipment not allowed and one of those is heaters. can understand fans and generators, but a lot of those restaurants -- they have gas -- is that considered mechanical device that would be prohibited. I mean it kind of gives you those shoulder days in the spring and fall to kind of allow you to still be outside, the sun's out, but it takes the chill off a little bit and I could see where we regulate them where how close they are to the public -- or the walking space, as opposed to the seating area, but that's just something that I know is downtown that we -- here we are saying it would not be allowed. Hood: Well -- and Madam Mayor, Councilman Hoaglun, I -- Brian and I talked about that and I'm not able to point to it, because we did talk about those dining areas that do have that and, like I say, the fall season where those -- those propane kind of heaters are nice. So, I don't -- I'm not able to turn to the standard. I see the mechanical equipment prohibitions you're referencing, but I know we talked about that and I'm not -- not seeing that allowance, but that wasn't the intent. I think we do want to allow them within here, but I would have to -- we will make a note and work on a standard there, because I agree, I think those are nice amenities if you're going to sit outside. Misters, too, are the other part of the year, you might be able to -- we might be able to at least talk about them. Without infringing on freedoms, talking about -- you know, you can't drench people as they go by, but you may be able to have some misters out there and -- because this is a public right of way, it's for all the public, and so we aren't trying to be detrimental to anybody that's just trying to traverse up and down on the sidewalk. So, I will get with Brian, we will make a note, and make sure that that is something that is allowed within these standards. So, thank you. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 26 of 37 De Weerd: Yes. I see our fire marshal kind of grimacing over there. Hood: Did I mention we are going to coordinate with other -- police and fire? De Weerd: We do like to be warm, though. Mr: Zaremba. Zaremba: Thank you. That was my subject. Friedman: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Who said that? Oh. Zaremba: Your comment about the fire marshal taking an interest in the outdoor heaters, that's what I was going to comment on. De Weerd: Thank you. Yes, Pete. Friedman: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Commission Members, Council Members. You know, just listening to this discussion I think before we start creating boards and commissions and stuff, maybe we reverse kind of the process, come up with these standards and, then, let's engage those downtown merchants and property owners and say, okay, here is kind of what we have been thinking of, here is what will work for you, what can we do to make this easier for you, what kind of things do you have available, what vendors do you go to, that sort of thing. So, maybe they can help us kind of fine tune this and kind of work it from that end of the process. That may be a good way to approach it. De Weerd: I think that's a perfect idea. We will -- I think reinforce the relationship that -- that Brian and Luke and Ashley have been trying to nurture by bringing back and say this is kind of what we pulled together from the visits, the comments, we'd love to get your thoughts and -- and just a comment. I thought when you told me this -- this slide was to kind of make it in every day speak, just don't say ROW encroachment as the title. Hood: Everybody knows that's right of way, right? De Weerd: And what does encroachment mean. You know. So, I -- I appreciate the visual, but I thought the title was kind of funny. Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, your dad was a football coach. You know what encroachment means. Rountree: A five yard penalty. De Weerd: Uh-huh. Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 27 of 37 Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: That reminds me that Caleb left a question hanging and that is whether the city wants to take an interest in doing this or leave it with ACHD and I think if ACRD is willing to let us be involved in it, it's a personal opinion we could come up with exactly what you're doing, which are consistent standards for it and a look that we want for it, which are things that ACHD probably wouldn't care to take an interest in it. They either say yes or no and that would be the end of it and I think we can bring another element to the table that would really enhance downtown. So, I'm in favor of -- if ACHD will let us -- license us to do this, that I'm in favor of doing it. De Weerd: I think staff has been working diligently and -- with that conversation and, yes, very interested in the can do attitude, instead of won't do. Hood: And maybe just another quick tid bit on that end. In fact, we have got -- they have got the agreement ready for us to sign, we just need a process and some standards in place before we can take this on. They are ready to hand that over to us, we just need to know what we are doing. So, we are working to try to get this side of things done, so we have some code and standards and a process where somebody can apply to the city. But, yeah, ACHD is on board and that will be before the Council here at a future date for us to take on this, so -- thank you. De Weerd: Okay. Anything further? Thank you. Hood: That's it for me tonight. Thank you. Item 14: l°raditional City Core (Downtown) Outreach Report McClure: Madam Mayor, Council, Commission, I hope you all had a chance to read the report or are aware that it went on, but -- and I will try to be brief here. The report that you all received is a summary of a process intended to support the Destination Downtown plan. The traditional city core, the focus of the report, is the first district of several that staff plans to focus efforts on. Specifically this process was a focused look at addressing action items from the Destination Downtown implementation plan as they apply to the traditional core. During the planning stages this process also worked to include a broad out reach effort to stakeholders. This occurred as a result of suggestions both by MDC and the Mayor's office. Staff's principal focus during initial efforts was to insure that nothing listed as a goal in the plan -- that nothing seen as good within the plan was discouraged by city policy. It addition to policy review and in conjunction with MDC and the Mayor's office, staff visited most every property within the traditional city core. This was to engage stakeholders and get their thoughts and opinions on opportunities for improvement. Staff also fielded a number of general Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 28 of 37 questions, comments, and provided appropriate follow up with the stakeholders. Moving forward, staff has a number of proposed changes to both the Comprehensive Plan and the design manual. This includes, as Caleb has highlighted, providing the opportunity and ability for stakeholders to capitalize on traditional benefits as downtown businesses within the downtown environment. We are also planning to provide MDC with this report and prep'ing next steps for districts. Is there anything in that plan that you would like me to discuss, go over? Are there any general questions or comments or -- kind of make this short and leave it up to you guys, so -- any suggestions for moving forward? De Weerd: I think some of the previous discussion I think encapsulated some of the ideas for moving forward, but I would certainly like to commend you, Brian, for the work that you have put into this. I know it went a long way to the downtown businesses, the more personal approach and that out reach. It was greatly appreciated. And I think what you have captured in your documents has been -- it mirrors some of the comments that I have heard and just to follow up, touch base, this is kind of the result of our discussions -- will go a long way as well. Any other comments outside of what we have already discussed? Rountree: Just move forward towards implementation. I guess, Madam Mayor, one suggestion I would have is that there is transition in businesses downtown. It might be good just to kind of follow up and bring these -- the new tenants or the new owners into what's going on. De Weerd: Although when you -- when you get out into the community I think there is going to still be the remains of another activity that's going on in downtown and it's going to be the split corridor and the resurfacing. So, you might want to wear body armor or -- I think there is just some -- still some lingering concerns and questions and I don't know how best to address that, other than, you know, that's two separate activities, but collect those comments and continued questions. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I just would comment that much of the recent discussion on the split corridor, phase two in particular, has been about the what and the how that it's going to happen. There hasn't been that much about why it's happening and I -- some of the push back that we get is, you know, why are we tearing up this street and Ihave -- I would offer if you want to sit down with me sometime -- I was on the committee that came up with that idea. The downtown transportation plan committee was the result of the downtown marketing plan committee -- marketing plan was like nine years ago and the transportation plan was like seven years ago and I was on -- it was a joint effort between the city and ACRD. There is some very good reasons for why we came up with what we did and what we considered and I would be happy to sit down and talk -- if Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 29 of 37 you're getting those kind of questions, I can help you with the answers and so that we aren't making a battle out of it, because there is some very good reasons to be doing what we are doing and I certainly understand the pain that we will go through for the six to nine months that it's happening, but there is some good reasons for the end results that I would be happy to support you with. McClure: I appreciate that. Thank you. De Weerd: Well -- and you're so good, Brian, with visual -- I still think there are still some downtown businesses that think we are going to have a one way grid. They haven't quite grasped what the split corridor is and, again, with your right of way encroachment pictures, you are able to show that very nicely and if there is a better way -- even -- you look at the diagrams or the pictures we have now, it still doesn't really show what this means to them and maybe armed with better visuals that that can help answer some of those questions, too. McClure: Okay. De Weerd: Maybe you need to just bring Public Works and ACHD with you. McClure: Madam Mayor, I did bring Tim Curns with me when we visited split corridor properties and they actually had no questions regarding it. They were actually excited, the ones we talked to, sans one. We had one business owner that was pretty upset about it. We actually had a few residential people further down Meridian that were looking forward to it, because they would get wider sidewalks and the tree in the front yard would be gone and -- it was rather surprising. De Weerd: Well, that's refreshing. Okay. Friedman: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Pete. Friedman: One other thing that Brian didn't mention too much is, you know, we would acknowledge the great work that he and the other folks who were involved with this done. We are actually moving on now into another area and so we are embarking yet on another process to further implement the Destination Downtown. It's going to have a little bit different focus on it, little bit different process, but, again, it will be some of the same staff people and players involved in it and so when that process concludes we will be back to you with another report. So, just to let you know that this thing isn't static and we are taking it in steps as we move along. De Weerd: That's great. And I know that it's appreciated as well. Just additionally you have your follow up with our business community, but also with MDC. I would share Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 30 of 37 what is in front of Council and Commission to ask for their feedback as well. Okay. If there isn't anything further, I would like to thank you, Brian. McClure: Thank you. Item 15: Open Discussion De Weerd: Item 15. Open discussion. Is there anything from the Commission or the Council -- other topics you would like to get together to discuss, any follow up to what was presented tonight, or any general comments? Freeman: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Freeman. Freeman: If my mike is on. We don't often get the opportunity to sit with the Council and it occurs to me sometimes during and after our own Commission hearings -- often during our hearings the balance of opinion in my own mind shifts up and down while we are taking public testimony and applicant testimony and I usually leave thinking, okay, we have made the best decision. But sometimes I wonder have we made the best decision and I often find myself wondering if City Council, when they come-- then come before you -- because often what we are doing is just making recommendations to you. Have you ever been surprised by something that we have come up with, as if to think what are they thinking or, boy, they really need to get with the program. I'm just curious if -- if you tend to understand what we have done, the decisions that we have made, or if there have been any cases in any of your minds where, you know, maybe we need to sit down and talk about what's in the best interest of the city. It's a great process. I love the process. I love the fact that the balance of my own opinion changes during some of these hearings and I think the process is doing its job. But often people leave upset. That's the nature of it. And I just want to get your feedback on some of the recommendations we have sent to you, if there was anything in your mind that stands out or anything you would like to communicate to us as far as that goes. De Weerd: Mr. Rountree? Rountree: Madam Mayor and Scott, I -- first off, I know where you're coming from, because I did somewhere between eight and 12 years on Planning and Zoning, so I can appreciate your comment and sometimes you don't know -- and you don't get the feedback about the decisions or the recommendations you make. From my perspective your recommendations are -- are the foundation of -- what does the application do with respect to the ordinances and the planning and zoning requirements and in that regard I think you guys do a great job. In fact, I think you do a great job on all of it, but that's -- kind of that's where your jurisdiction lies. Do these applications meet these zoning maps, zoning requirements, land use requirements and those kinds of things. Now, when we get them we -- we have some -- way more flexibility than you all do in terms of Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 31 of 37 how to interpret that or even waiving or varying those kinds of things. So, sometimes you will see us make a decision that might not necessarily be in alignment with yours, but it might be taking yours and, then softening it so we have fewer people leave the room upset, if you will. Freeman: Sure. Rountree: But I think you guys do a tremendous job and I have always felt that Planning and Zoning Commissions do a good job, even when I had to go before them one time and explain to them the kinds of comments they shouldn't make in a public forum about the City Council. But that was one occurrence and that was many, many, many years ago. Well, Ithink -- it's a tough job, because the reality is you really are not making the final decision, but you're making the best decision you can given the constraints of the documents and the ordinances and the information that you can act on and I think you do a tremendous job and I don't know that we overturn, major modified many of your decisions at all, other than, you know, occasionally we will -- we will ask for a way to soften or maybe stretch an ordinance or maybe to the point where your decision is the right decision based on our ordinance, but we might feel that given the circumstance and ordinance you might need to be changed, so we get into that process so we don't have to put you and ourselves in that situation again. So, I can't think of a -- I can't think of a time in recent years where there has really been -- in my mind where I have thought you guys are way out in left field. Ithink you're spot on. Freeman: Thank you for the feedback. Hoaglun: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I just wanted to comment, I'm hoping there was times that you don't see us where you issued a denial and, then, we approved going what did they do that for. What I find in those instances is where you guys have denied something, that has made the applicant go back to the drawing board and redo some things and they come forward with a little tweaked proposal that allows us to do some things that gives them the approval to move forward. So, oftentimes that has helped us reach an agreement and you guys were sound in your decision saying, you know, that's -- that's not -- shouldn't go forward that way and they have gone back, taken that advice, and tweaked it to where it allowed us to do some of the things that Councilman Rountree mentioned in finding some areas that -- of agreement that we can make it work. So, it works out pretty well. So, I hope you don't take it the other way that, gee, they just tossed out another one where -- and oftentimes I find it's the ones that you have denied that they have come back and gone to some great length in some instances to make it work. So, that -- I hope you don't see us throwing some of those things out, because it really is a different --different situation in many of those instances. Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 32 of 37 De Weerd: Well -- and just to clarify, if it's a substantial change it will come back to you. Hoaglun: Yes. Rountree: Madam Mayor, I just was going to say, do you want those back, Scott? Freeman: We care not to if possible. Especially the tough ones. De Weerd: I think you guys summarize well before your motions, which helps to see what the thinking is. I believe, then, staff does capture that in the staff report under outstanding issues. So, Council can focus on maybe some of the topics that came out of your discussion that there might have been a concern that you don't feel that you can be talking about it at your level, that it needs to be something brought up at the City Council level, so, you know, all of that is extremely helpful in bringing it up to the Council level and, then, making their determinations and their decisions. So, your dialogue is appreciated and it is paid attention to. Freeman: There is -- go ahead. Zaremba: Madam Mayor, I -- all of that, what's been said already, I thoroughly agree with. I just wanted to add and make sure it's on the record how much lappreciate -- you guys are volunteers and you do this voluntarily and you do it thoroughly and you do it with concern and to me you're recommendations very important and as has been said, there may be reasons why the situation changed after you made your recommendation and we considered that as well. But I trust your work and I appreciate your work and I want to make sure everybody knows you are volunteers that are doing this and very faithfully and very helpfully. So, I depend on that. De Weerd: They get a turkey every year. Come on. Freeman: Madam Mayor, I did not get a turkey this year. De Weerd: Oh, you didn't? Freeman: No. O'Brien: I think it's next month. De Weerd: No. It's next month. Zaremba: Yeah. It's for Christmas, not Thanksgiving. De Weerd: And I would say, too, three of the four of us that served on Planning and Zone. So, we have been there done that and we even have the T-shirt. Did you get one? Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 33 of 37 Freeman: Madam Mayor, there is one other question. I don't know if this is the format for it, but I just wanted to bring it up, because it's come up in our public testimony before and it has to do with our notification radius at 300 feet and I don't know if that's dictated to us by the state or if that's something we have any flexibility to change if we want to. But often the public feels that, you know, 300 foot radius isn't adequate, because I'm near enough to this project that it impacts me, but I'm 400 feet away or I'm 600 feet away. The other side of that is I understand the reality of changing that radius to like 1,000 feet or a mile, it literally changes the notification amounts to ten times what it is in a 300 foot radius. But I just want to throw that out there as something that maybe we would want to discuss, because it does seem to be a bone of contention with some of the public when we -- when we get into these hearings. De Weerd: Yeah. And we are glad you have to explain it first. Freeman: Yes. Thank you. Rountree: Madam Mayor, I might address part of that is that one of the reasons we require that big sign on the property is just for that reason. That's another form of notification. It's also in the newspaper. Freeman: Understood. Rountree: And I think that the 300 foot is -- is statute and we are following statute. Our fees are based on the effort and the cost related to those kinds of things and if you go much beyond that, as you indicated, the fees for advertising and mailing and notification are huge. And, again, that's one of the reasons why we don't pursue it and -- but one of the reasons -- another reason is why we require notification in the newspapers and why we require the signs, the bigger signs. I mean they could put signs like that on their properties, but the bigger ones are for people to drive by and say, hey, something's going on and ask and those people that are telling you they are concerned about the notification are the same people that are here testifying, which is a good thing. They got the notification. Freeman: Yeah. Madam Mayor, Councilman Rountree, I -- we do often have to remind the public at the hearings that notification is given in three different formats and I am actually glad to hear that that's statute, because that gives us I believe -- I'm not a lawyer, obviously, but I don't think that's something we have flexibility to change and so we can -- we can rest assured -- and I think that's a pretty typical distance, too, looking at other -- Rountree: It's in the state statute I believe. Freeman: Okay. Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 34 of 37 Nary: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Nary. Nary: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council and the Commission, yeah, it is a state statute. There are certain types of notifications for certain types of applications that you see greater notice -- comp plan amendments and things like that can receive greater notice. But the concerns would always be the same. Someone will live 301 feet away, someone will live 1,001 foot away, so we do try to adhere as closely to the statute, because it is at least a benchmark that the state legislature has determined is appropriate and as Council Member Rountree stated, that is the purpose of there is three different methods of notification and actually four when you look that there is an actual online tool that people can actually subscribe to to receive notification of all our agendas. But the state statute requires signs on the property. It requires notification in your official newspaper, as well as the mailed notice within the 300 foot radius and I think, honestly, the best comment was that the purpose of notice is to get the person there to tell you what they think. Usually they are there telling you what they think that they didn't get notice, but they just didn't get notice to their house and the reality was they got notice in some form or they wouldn't have been there. If they have some reason that their lack of getting it to their house impacts their ability to provide you adequate information, that's a fair statement on their part and that's a fair inquiry on the part of the Commission on whether or not they need additional time to provide whatever information is necessary. But if we deviate beyond that statute we will be setting ourselves up for failure, because we are going to miss somebody, it's going to get missed in some fashion and I think as the Council has stated, we geared all our fees to those requirements and it would just increase the costs of those fees for the applicant. Freeman: I can close the door on that question. Thank you very much. Zaremba: Madam Mayor? Nary: You can steer them to Mr. Baird or myself that's sitting over here in those Commission meetings if you need to, so -- Freeman: Thank you. De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba. Zaremba: I just -- I vaguely remember that we may have discussed this a long time ago or maybe when I was on the Planning and Zoning Commission, but I wonder if in the letter of notification we could add a paragraph that says: This letter is being sent to every property owner of record within 300 feet. If you are a member of a homeowners association would you, please, notify your board of this letter. I mean it's just a way to spread the word without any additional cost if we could add a paragraph like that. I don't know if that's legal or even wise. Just expressing an opinion. Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 35 of 37 De Weerd: I think it's an excellent idea. One other comment I would make is there are some old signs out there and we -- people start ignoring them, because they are five years old. If -- we need to go out and do a major clean up and so, then, when a sign pops up it actually might pop out at someone and they might even read it. So, we need some clean up. Friedman: We will pass that on -- we will have discussions with code on that. De Weerd: Okay. I'm sure maybe Lieutenant Leslie might bring that back, too. So, anything further? Rountree: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Rountree. Rountree: Your last comment brought something to mind and I think it would probably be beneficial for both these bodies. The activities in direction and efforts on the part of MDC -- yeah, we get the minutes of the meetings and occasionally -- what is it, quarterly or every six months we get the administrator here to give us kind of an update of what's gone on and what's going on. But it would be good just to have like every couple months from some member of MDC just to give us a short synopsis of what's going on and the issues they are facing. I know it's a private corporation, but the bottom line is is this body underwrites any efforts that might go south with that group and be kind of nice to know firsthand what's going on early, instead of having to wait for minutes and final discussion and et cetera. I know your meetings always open and I'm free to attend. De Weerd: Absolutely. Rountree: But I just don't seem to get up that early in the morning. De Weerd: Not a good excuse. Rountree: I'm sure P&Z would like to know and hear some of the things that are going on with that group, particularly with efforts in downtown and those kind of things. De Weerd: We could maybe -- well, I don't know. We will have to look at that one. don't know if they -- they want to pay their administrator to come. It is extra time to create another report. Our staff is there. I guess if there is anything that seems of importance or urgent -- read your minutes. Rountree: It's another way to get that information public. Well, I'm -- it's been an issue and I think the more exposure it gets, particularly as you get into more things, the better it's going to be. Just a comment. Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 36 of 37 De Weerd: Anything further? O'Brien: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. O'Brien. O'Brien: Commissioners. Is there a mechanism in to provide the Commissioners meetings such as this, so that we could have advance notice that there is something out there that we should read? Because like Steve and I, we didn't know that this information that we went through tonight was available and is there -- are we supposed to be notified of -- of this agenda and the things that we are supposed to be looking at, since I had no idea what we were going to be discussing, other than the agenda itself. Holman: Madam Mayor? Madam Mayor, Members of the Council and Commissioners, we put that location in -- where we normally put your information for a P&Z meeting out on the web link. We copied the file to City Council and to you folks. Probably what we failed to do is to send you an a-mail telling you it's going to be there, just like it would any other P&Z meeting. O'Brien: I don't remember getting anything like that that was a message there, so never looked. Holman: Right. That's what I said. We didn't notify you it was there, we just put it out there like we normally do for a P&Z meeting, but in the future we will send you an a-mail and let you know if there is a joint meeting that we will put the documents in both places. O'Brien: That would be great. Appreciate that very much. Thank you. And just a quick comment, too. I'm sorry. About this 300 foot deal. One of the major issues that came up was things that are -- that are high, like cell towers and things of that nature that are a certain height, people that were notified. But I think Councilman Zaremba had a good idea about notifying homeowner associations and stuff to get the message out that people that were a mile away are going to be affected by these towers that are going up and we have people come there and say exactly what you said, we came here specifically just to complain about the fact that we weren't notified. So, I think that's important. So, that's all I have. Thank you very much. De Weerd: Thank you. Anything further? Yearsley: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Yearsley. Meridian City Council & Planning and Zoning Joint Meeting November 29, 2011 Page 37 of 37 Yearsley: I'm just coming up on my first year on the Planning and Zoning and I just want to thank you for allowing me to be on this Commission. I have learned a lot and it's been a lot of fun and I look forward to continued service. So, just thank you. Hoaglun: Madam Mayor, I will ask Steve. You mean it's more fun than the Parks Commission? Yearsley: Well, I don't know about that. But it's been a lot of learning process and it's been very interesting and appreciate you allowing me to be on this Commission. De Weerd: Well, we appreciate your dedication and your continued service and I know you don't hear it often enough and probably not very often at all, but you are greatly appreciated. Your preparation, your willingness to serve for just the turkey that you will get next month. Rountree: Would you like that frozen or smoked? Freeman: Smoked. De Weerd: So, if there is nothing further, I would entertain a motion to adjourn. Rountree: So moved. Zaremba: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to adjourn. I will call this for both City Council and the Commission. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. De Weerd: We are adjourned. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:55 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF HESE PROCEEDINGS) I ~ 3 ~ aola MAYOR Y DE WEE`o~oRwT>,oau~~~~ DATE A~PDPROVED $ATTF~,Tf (/l ~E IR~ HOLMAN, CITY CLERK IOpN[F SEAL W f~, s~ fB ~r ~Se TAFA90&dv rid®an ity ouncill~leetin T N®vember 29, 2011 IT' l1 4 DATE: I E_MSTAFF TOI AGENCOY I APPLICANT I NOTES I INITIALS Mai in ity ouncillVletingi for "Maple Ave. Water Main Replacements-Construction" to the Low Bidder, Star Construction, for the Not-To-Exceed Amount of $130,506.00 and Authorize the Mayor to Sign the Agreement DATE: I E_MSTAFD TOI AGENCY I APPLICANT I NOTES I INITIALS Me ~ To: Jaycee L. Holman, City Clerk, Fronn: Keith Watts, Purchasing Manager CC: Brent Blake, Jacy Jones ate: 11 /17/11 tae: November 29 City Council Meeting Agenda Item The Purchasing Department respectfully requests that the following item be placed on the November 29 City Council Consent Agenda for Council's consideration. Approval of Award of Bid and Agreement for "Maple Ave Water Main Replacements - Construction" to Star Construction, Inc and authorize the Mayor to sign the Agreement in the amount of $66,854.00. This award is the result of Formal IFB #PW- 12-10177A issued October 12~' and opened November 4~'. Four bids were received. Recommended Council Action: Approval of Award of Bid and Authorize the Mayor to sign the Agreement for the Not-To-Exceed amount of the Low Bid of $130,506.00. Thank you for your consideration. Page 1 TO: Keith Watts FROM: Brent Blake Engineering Technician II DATE: 10/12/2011 SUBJECT; Project Information; Maple Avenue Water Main Replacement I. DEPARTMENT CONTACT PERSONS Brent Blake, Engineering Technician II {Project Manager) 489-0340 Kyle Radek, Asst. City Engineer 489-0343 Warren Stewart, PW Engineering Manager 489-0350 II. DESCRIPTIOlmt A. Background During Fiscal Year 2011 the Public Works Department budgeted for the replacement of deficient and aging water and sewer lines throughout the City. A replacement priority schedule was completed based on three factors; pipe size, pipe material, and pipe age. Through research of record drawings and performing subsurface investigations, the main line pipes within this project area were found to be made of transite pipe that was installed during the early 1960's. Based on the evaluation referenced above, this project is considered one of the highest priority water line replacement projects within the city of Meridian. B. Proposed Project This project entails replacing approximately 1100 linear feet of 4-inch diameter transite water main with 8-inch diameter polyvinylchloride (PVC) water main. This project will also entail the replacement of two fire hydrants and twenty-eight existing water services. The majority of the work related to this project will be performed within the existing right-of way. However, the work will also include the replacement and reconnection of service lines which will be performed on private property. III. IMPACT Page 1 of Z A. Strateg'c Impact: This project meets our mission requirements to indentify and prioritize work in order to anticipate, plan and provide public services and facilities that support the needs of our growing community, and to ensure modern reliable facilities while maintaining financial stewardship. This project is also related to Down Town Urban Renewal in that upon completion the City of Meridian will be able to provide water to new developments along E. State Avenue with higher quality and quantity than exists today. B. Service/Delivery Impact: The replacement of the substandard pipes in this project will significantly impact customer service and overall delivery in the following ways; it will reduce the risk of costly pipe breaks, ensure that dependable service is provided to current and future customers, increase fire protection capacity, and extend the life of City infrastructure. C. FiscalImpacts: Budgeted Amount (3490-95000) $550,000.00 Current Obligations (3490-95000) $0.00 Balance Available for Construction (3490-95000) $550,000.00 Proposed Construction Cost (3490-95000) $175,000.00 Projected Remaining Amount $375,000.00 ~~/ t I Approved for Council Agenda: ~,ti, ~ `~«---~ - ~~ f/' - /r V~arren Stewart D e 1~~/~, Pnge 2 of 2 CONTRACT FOR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR SERVICES MAPLE AVE WATER MAIN REPLACEMENTS -CONSTRUCTION PROJECT # 10177a THIS CONTRACT FOR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR SERVICES is made this day of November, 2011, and entered into by and between the City of Meridian, a municipal corporation organized under the laws of the State of Idaho, hereinafter referred to as "CITY", 33 East Broadway Avenue, Meridian, Idaho 83642, and Star Construction, LLC, hereinafter referred to as "CONTRACTOR", whose business address is P O Box 157, Star, ID 83669 and whose Public Works Contractor License # is C-14428-AAA-4. INTRODUCTION Whereas, the City has a need for services involving MAPLE AVE WATER MAIN REPLACEMENTS- CONSTRUCTION; and WHEREAS, the Contractor is specially trained, experienced and competent to perform and has agreed to provide such services; NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises, covenants, terms and conditions hereinafter contained, the parties agree as follows: TERMS AND CONDITIONS 1. Scope of Work: 1.1 CONTRACTOR shall perform and furnish to the City upon execution of this Contract and receipt of the City's written notice to proceed, all services and work, and comply in all respects, as specified in the document titled "Scope of Work" a copy of which is attached hereto as Attachment "A" and incorporated herein by this reference, together with any amendments that may be agreed to in writing by the parties. 1.2 All documents, drawings and written work product prepared or produced by the Contractor under this Contract, including without limitation electronic data files, are the property of the Contractor; provided, however, the City shall have the right to reproduce, publish and use all such work, or any part thereof, in any manner and for any purposes whatsoever and to authorize others to do so. If any such work is copyrightable, the Contractor may copyright the same, except that, as to any work which is copyrighted by the Contractor, the City reserves a royalty-free, non-exclusive, and irrevocable license to reproduce, publish and use such work, or any part thereof, and to authorize others to do so. Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction page 1 of 12 Project 10177a 1.3 The Contractor shall provide services and work under this Contract consistent with the requirements and standards established by applicable federal, state and city laws, ordinances, regulations and resolutions. The Contractor represents and warrants that it will perform its work in accordance with generally accepted industry standards and practices for the profession or professions that are used in performance of this Contract and that are in effect at the time of performance of this Contract. Except for that representation and any representations made or contained in any proposal submitted by the Contractor and any reports or opinions prepared or issued as part of the work performed by the Contractor under this Contract, Contractor makes no other warranties, either express or implied, as part of this Contract. 1.4 Services and work provided by the Contractor at the City's request under this Contract will be performed in a timely manner in accordance with a Schedule of Work, which the parties hereto shall agree to. The Schedule of Work may be revised from time to time upon mutual written consent of the parties. 2. Consideration 2.1 The Contractor shall be compensated on a Lump Sum basis as provided in Attachment B "Payment Schedule" attached hereto and by reference made a part hereof for the lump sum amount of $130,506.00. 2.2 The Contractor shall provide the City with a monthly statement, as the work warrants, of fees earned and costs incurred for services provided during the billing period, which the City will pay within 30 days of receipt of a correct invoice and approval by the City. The City will not withhold any Federal or State income taxes or Social Security Tax from any payment made by City to Contractor under the terms and conditions of this Contract. Payment of all taxes and other assessments on such sums is the sole responsibility of Contractor. 2.3 Except as expressly provided in this Contract, Contractor shall not be entitled to receive from the City any additional consideration, compensation, salary, wages, or other type of remuneration for services rendered under this Contract including, but not limited to, meals, lodging, transportation, drawings, renderings or mockups. Specifically, Contractor shall not be entitled by virtue of this Contract to consideration in the form of overtime, health insurance benefits, retirement benefits, paid holidays or other paid leaves of absence of any type or kind whatsoever. Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction page 2 of 12 Project 10177a 3. Term: 3.1 This Contract shall become effective upon execution by both parties, and shall expire upon (a) completion of the agreed upon work, (b) September 30, 2012 or (c) unless sooner terminated as provided below or unless some other method or time of termination is listed in Attachment A. 3.2 Should Contractor default in the performance of this Contractor materially breach any of its provisions, City, at City's option, may terminate this Contract by giving written notification to Contractor. 3.3 Should City fail to pay Contractor all or any part of the compensation set forth in Attachment B of this Contract on the date due, Contractor, at the Contractor's option, may terminate this Contract if the failure is not remedied by the City within thirty (30) days from the date payment is due. 3.4 TIME FOR EXECUTING CONTRACT AND LIQUIDATED DAMAGES Upon receipt of a Notice to Proceed, the Contractor shall have 120 (one hundred twenty) calendar days to complete the work as described herein. Contractor shall be liable to the City for any delay beyond this time period in the amount of five hundred dollars ($500.00) per calendar day. Such payment shall be construed to be liquidated damages by the Contractor in lieu of any claim or damage because of such delay and not be construed as a penalty. 4. Termination: 4.1 If, through any cause, CONTRACTOR, its officers, employees, or agents fails to fulfill in a timely and proper manner its obligations under this Contract, violates any of the covenants, agreements, or stipulations of this Contract, falsifies any record or document required to be prepared under this Contract, engages in fraud, dishonesty, or any other act of misconduct in the performance of this contract, or if the City Council determines that termination of this Contract is in the best interest of CITY, the CITY shall thereupon have the right to terminate this Contract by giving written notice to CONTRACTOR of such termination and specifying the effective date thereof at least fifteen (15) days before the effective date of such termination. CONTRACTOR may terminate this Contract at any time by giving at least sixty (60) days notice to CITY. 4.2 In the event of any termination of this Contract, all finished or unfinished documents, data, and reports prepared by CONTRACTOR under this Contract shall, at the option of the CITY, become its property, and CONTRACTOR shall be entitled to receive just and equitable compensation for any work satisfactorily complete hereunder. Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction page 3 of 12 Project 10177a 4.3 Notwithstanding the above, CONTRACTOR shall not be relieved of liability to the CITY for damages sustained by the CITY by virtue of any breach of this Contract by CONTRACTOR, and the CITY may withhold any payments to CONTRACTOR for the purposes of set-off until such time as the exact amount of damages due the CITY from CONTRACTOR is determined. This provision shall survive the termination of this Contract and shall not relieve CONTRACTOR of its liability to the CITY for damages. 5. Independent Contractor: 5.1 In all matters pertaining to this Contract, CONTRACTOR shall be acting as an independent contractor, and neither CONTRACTOR nor any officer, employee or agent of CONTRACTOR will be deemed an employee of CITY. Except as expressly provided in Attachment A, Contractor has no authority or responsibility to exercise any rights or power vested in the City and therefore has no authority to bind or incur any obligation on behalf of the City. The selection and designation of the personnel of the CITY in the performance of this Contract shall be made by the CITY. 5.2 Contractor, its agents, officers, and employees are and at all times during the term of this Contract shall represent and conduct themselves as independent contractors and not as employees of the City. 5.3 Contractor shall determine the method, details and means of performing the work and services to be provided by Contractor under this Contract. Contractor shall be responsible to City only for the requirements and results specified in this Contract and, except as expressly provided in this Contract, shall not be subjected to City's control with respect to the physical action or activities of Contractor in fulfillment of this Contract. If in the performance of this Contract any third persons are employed by Contractor, such persons shall be entirely and exclusively under the direction and supervision and control of the Contractor. 6. Indemnification and Insurance: 6.1 CONTRACTOR shall indemnify and save and hold harmless CITY from and for any and all losses, claims, actions, judgments for damages, or injury to persons or property and losses and expenses and other costs including litigation costs and attorney's fees, arising out of, resulting from, or in connection with the performance of this Contract by the CONTRACTOR, its servants, agents, officers, employees, guests, and business invitees, and not caused by or arising out of the tortious conduct of CITY or its employees. CONTRACTOR shall maintain, and specifically Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction page 4 of 12 Project 10177a aarees that it will maintain throuahout the term of this Contract, liability insurance in which the CITY shall be named an additional insured in the minimum amounts as follow: General Liability One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) per incident or occurrence, Automobile Liability Insurance One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) per incident or occurrence and Workers' Compensation Insurance, in the statutory limits as required by law.. The limits of insurance shall not be deemed a limitation of the covenants to indemnify and save and hold harmless CITY; and if CITY becomes liable for an amount in excess of the insurance limits, herein provided, CONTRACTOR covenants and agrees to indemnify and save and hold harmless CITY from and for all such losses, claims, actions, or judgments for damages or injury to persons or property and other costs, including litigation costs and attorneys' fees, arising out of, resulting from , or in connection with the performance of this Contract by the Contractor or Contractor's officers, employs, agents, representatives or subcontractors and resulting in or attributable to personal injury, death, or damage or destruction to tangible or intangible property, including use of. CONTRACTOR shall provide CITY with a Certificate of Insurance, or other proof of insurance evidencing CONTRACTOR'S compliance with the requirements of this paragraph and file such proof of insurance with the CITY at least ten (10) days prior to the date Contractor begins performance of it's obligations under this Contract. In the event the insurance minimums are changed, CONTRACTOR shall immediately submit proof of compliance with the changed limits. Evidence of all insurance shall be submitted to the City Purchasing Agent with a copy to Meridian City Accounting, 33 East Broadway Avenue, Meridian, Idaho 83642. 6.2 Any deductibles, self-insured retention, or named insureds must be declared in writing and approved by the City. At the option of the City, either: the insurer shall reduce or eliminate such deductibles, self-insured retentions or named insureds; or the Contractor shall provide a bond, cash or letter of credit guaranteeing payment of losses and related investigations, claim administration and defense expenses. 6.3 To the extent of the indemnity in this contract, Contractor's Insurance coverage shall be primary insurance regarding the City's elected officers, officials, employees and volunteers. Any insurance or self-insurance maintained by the City or the City's elected officers, officials, employees and volunteers shall be excess of the Contractor's insurance and shall not contribute with Contractor's insurance except as to the extent of City's negligence. 6.4 The Contractor's insurance shall apply separately to each insured against whom claim is made or suit is brought, except with respect to the limits of the insurer's liability. Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction page 5 of 12 Project 10177a 6.5 All insurance coverages for subcontractors shall be subject to all of the insurance and indemnity requirements stated herein. 6.6 The limits of insurance described herein shall not limit the liability of the Contractor and Contractor's agents, representatives, employees or subcontractors. 7. Bonds: Payment and Performance Bonds are required on all Public Works Improvement Projects. 8. Notices: Any and all notices required to be given by either of the parties hereto, unless otherwise stated in this contract, shall be in writing and be deemed communicated when mailed in the United States mail, certified, return receipt requested, addressed as follows: City of Meridian Purchasing Manager 33 E. Broadway Avenue Meridian, Idaho 83642 Star Construction Attn: Ancil Irminger P O Box 157 Star, I D 83669 208-286-9198 starconstructionllcCa?q_mail.com Idaho Public Works License #: C-14428-AAA-4 Either party may change their address for the purpose of this paragraph by giving written notice of such change to the other in the manner herein provided. 9. Attorney Fees: Should any litigation be commenced between the parties hereto concerning this Contract, the prevailing party shall be entitled, in addition to any other relief as may be granted, to court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees as determined by a Court of competent jurisdiction. This provision shall be deemed to be a separate contract between the parties and shall survive any default, termination or forfeiture of this Contract. 10. Time is of the Essence: The parties hereto acknowledge and agree that time is strictly of the essence with respect to each and every term, condition and provision hereof, and that the failure to timely perform any of the obligations hereunder shall constitute a breach of, and a default under, this Contract by the party so failing to perform. Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction page 6 of 12 Project 10177a 11. Assignment: It is expressly agreed and understood by the parties hereto, that CONTRACTOR shall not have the right to assign, transfer, hypothecate or sell any of its rights under this Contract except upon the prior express written consent of CITY. 12. Discrimination Prohibited: In performing the Work required herein, CONTRACTOR shall not unlawfully discriminate in violation of any federal, state or local law, rule or regulation against any person on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin or ancestry, age or disability. 13. Reports and Information: 13.1 At such times and in such forms as the CITY may require, there shall be furnished to the CITY such statements, records, reports, data and information as the CITY may request pertaining to matters covered by this Contract. 13.2 Contractor shall maintain all writings, documents and records prepared or compiled in connection with the performance of this Contract for a minimum of four (4) years from the termination or completion of this or Contract. This includes any handwriting, typewriting, printing, photo static, photographic and every other means of recording upon any tangible thing, any form of communication or representation including letters, words, pictures, sounds or symbols or any combination thereof. 14. Audits and Inspections: At any time during normal business hours and as often as the CITY may deem necessary, there shall be made available to the CITY for examination all of CONTRACTOR'S records with respect to all matters covered by this Contract. CONTRACTOR,shall permit the CITY to audit, examine, and make excerpts or transcripts from such records, and to make audits of all contracts, invoices, materials, payrolls, records of personnel, conditions of employment and other data relating to all matters covered by this Contract. 15. Publication, Reproduction and Use of Material: No material produced in whole or in part under this Contract shall be subject to copyright in the United States or in any other country. The CITY shall have unrestricted authority to publish, disclose and otherwise use, in whole or in part, any reports, data or other materials prepared under this Contract. 16. Compliance with Laws: In performing the scope of work required hereunder, CONTRACTOR shall comply with all applicable laws, ordinances, and codes of Federal, State, and local governments. 17. Changes: The CITY may, from time to time, request changes in the Scope of Work to be performed hereunder. Such changes, including any increase or decrease in the amount of CONTRACTOR'S compensation, Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction page 7 of 12 Project 10177a which are mutually agreed upon by and between the CITY and CONTRACTOR, shall be incorporated in written amendments which shall be executed with the same formalities as this Contract. 18. Construction and Severability: If any part of this Contract is held to be invalid or unenforceable, such holding will not affect the validity or enforceability of any other part of this Contract so long as the remainder of the Contract is reasonably capable of completion. 19. Waiver of Default: Waiver of default by either party to this Contract shall not be deemed to be waiver of any subsequent default. Waiver or breach of any provision of this Contract shall not be deemed to be a waiver of any other or subsequent breach, and shall not be construed to be a modification of the terms of this Contract unless this Contract is modified as provided above. 20. Advice of Attorney: Each party warrants and represents that in executing this Contract. It has received independent legal advice from its attorney's or the opportunity to seek such advice. 21. Entire Contract: This Contract contains the entire Contract of the parties and supersedes any and all other Contracts or understandings, oral of written, whether previous to the execution hereof or contemporaneous herewith. 22. Order of Precedence: The order or precedence shall be the contract, the Invitation for Bid document, then the winning bidders submitted bid document. 23. Public Records Act: Pursuant to Idaho Code Section 9-335, et seq., information or documents received from the Contractor may be open to public inspection and copying unless exempt from disclosure. The Contractor shall clearly designate individual documents as "exempt" on each page of such documents and shall indicate the basis for such exemption. The CITY will not accept the marking of an entire document as exempt. In addition, the CITY will not accept a legend or statement on one (1) page that all, or substantially all, of the document is exempt from disclosure. The Contractor shall indemnify and defend the CITY against all liability, claims, damages, losses, expenses, actions, attorney fees and suits whatsoever for honoring such a designation or for the Contractor's failure to designate individual documents as exempt. The Contractor's failure to designate as exempt any document or portion of a document that is released by the CITY shall constitute a complete waiver of any and all claims for damages caused by any such release. Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction page 8 of 12 Project 10177a 24. Applicable Law: This Contract shall be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of Idaho, and the ordinances of the City of Meridian. CITY OF MERIDIAN BY Dated: Approved by City Council: Attest: L l ~. JAYCEE L. HO Approved as to Content BY: KEIT ATTS, URCHASING MANAGER Dated: 1 ~ l Approved as to Form CITY ATTORNEY Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction Project 10177a EERD, MAYOR ~~ ~~ i/ Department Approval BY: ... NAME: TITLE: ~~}G~t/~1~~/2~ NCr 1M~~cJ~.C~..~-~ Dated: 1(~i,~~/1 page 9 of 12 25. Approval Required: This Contract shall not become effective or binding until approved by the City of Meridian. Attachment A SCOPE OF WORK TO INVITATION TO BID W-12-10177a ALL ADD NU S, ATTACHMENTS, AND XHI ITS included in the Invitation to id Package W-12-10177a are by this reference made a part hereof. Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction page 10 of 12 Project 10177a 1 A Attachment B MILESTONE /PAYMENT SCHEDULE A. Total and complete compensation for this Contract shall not exceed $130,506.00. 'PRICING SCH~i~ULE , Contract includes furnishing all labor, materials, equipment, and incidentals as required for the MAPLE AVE WATER MAIN REPLACEMENTS -CONSTRUCTION per IFB PW-12-10177a Total Bid Schedule ................... CONTRACT TOTAL ....................... $130,506.00 $130.506.00 ITEM PRICING BELOW WILL BE USED FOR CHANGE ORDER PRICING ONLY. _ , r :, x t l ',Y ~ ( ~irr ~y.L~1 '. ^ y-{* ~ l~ ii 'y ~ { T y ~i f ;,t p 1 f k ~_ l t y 'r'. ~~a ` ' ' i ` ~ ''7t `~ A3~~fnti~~-.t g w. ~{4 ~ 'S UT'7~ ~; yr~ 3Y~ ~F~. y J~ '~ L~ ti 1 .T J~ ~. t r' .if { ;k ~4Y Item No. Item Description Unit Price SP-M314.a Encase Pipe at Pipe Crossing $65.00 SP-M314.b Encase Service at Pipe Crossing $5.00 SP-M321.a 6" Gate Valve $950.00 SP-M321.b 8" Gate Valve $1,050.00 1103.4.1.A.1 Construction Traffic Control $3,352.40 SP-2 Replace with 1"Water Service & Connect to New Water Main $2,200.00 SP-3 Remove and Reset Fire Hydrant Assembly $1,300.00 SP-4 Storm Water Management $900.00 SP-5 Replace Water Main with 8" PVC $43.70 Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction page 11 of 12 Project 10177a o SP-6 Connect Existing Water Line to New Water Service $10.00 SP-7 Temporary Plant Mix Pavement $6.00 Travel expenses, if applicable, will be paid at no more than the City of Meridian's Travel and Expense Reimbursement Policy. Maple Ave Water Main Replacements -Construction page 12 of 12 Project 10177a Mari ian ify uncil etin 1' :November 29, 2011 IT' 5 J T ITEM TITLE: Items Quad from Consent end MEETING NOTES ~~~~- Community Item/Presentations Presenter Contact Info./Notes CLERKS OFFICE FINAL ACTION DATE: I E.MSTAFF TOI AGENCY I APPLICANT I NOTES ( INITIALS ri is iy uncil eetin DATE: I E_MSTAFF TOI AGENCY I APPL CANT I NOTES I INITIALS Mri ian City uncil iVleetin Official Election Results and Canvass of Votes MEETING NOTES ~~,~e~ Community Item/Presentations Presenter Contact Info./Notes CLERKS OFFICE FINAL ACTION DATE: I E.~STAFF TOI AGENCOY I APPLICANT I NOTES I INITIALS ,N _ A COLJNTY__LECTIONS ,~,~~ 400 N Benjamin Lane Suite #100, Boise ID 83704 ~~ - Phone~20~ 287-6860 Fax: (208 28) 7-6939 E-mail: Elections. adaweb.net ~' ~~' STATE OF IDAHO } ss. County of Ada I, Christopher D. Rich, County Clerk of said county and state, do hereby certify that the attached is a full, true and complete copy of the abstract of votes for the candidates therein named and/or the questions as they appeared on the election ballot on November 8, 2011 for MERIDIAN CITY as shown by the record of the Board of Canvassers filed in my office this 15~h day of November, 2011. fir. I ~ ~-- ounty Cl ~~ C3~~auacrrrcv iii ,4cfin~rl .~ o ~ 'b o ~ a~ ~ .~'° ~ °~ a~ ~ ~ W ~ o ~ U V] V 3~-~ N Vi ~ Q ~ U o ~ N ~~p ~ c~ ~ ~' N ~ c'~ o0 ,~ U fti y '~ ~ d ~~z ~~~ `~~~ °' ~ z" *~ U O (3a .r W cct U t/1 p~, ,~ ~ U N O U N •y U N N U ~~~~ ~~ ~~~~U vi N H y N ~.~~~ 0 A b w ¢ O c Gil ~, H o v~ U Cf r =_ ,r ~_ ~. ~' ~ 5 ,' ~ ~ 4 0 f ~ \\ ~ ~I 6 r 0 ,~ ,~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .~ ~ b a ,~ ~ ~ > U `~ 41 ~ O w a '~ ~ p G ~ U c d * ~ o ~ ~ o ~ 'U O V i ,. ~ U ,b . fv +' ~ y ~ ~,~ o ~, ~~~ w ~ ~ V ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ O N V v ~ ~ U ~ ~° . U ~ O O ~ ~ cd Q ~ U ,s: N ~ ~_ .} 0 ~ ~ ~ a ~ y .~7 U U U 'b W N ~~o ~, H 0 w O o ~' H ~ v~ U MERIDIAN RUN DATE:11/14/11 11:51 AM PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 28) . REGISTERED VOTERS - MERIDIAN CITY BALLOTS CAST - MERIDIAN CITY . VOTER TURNOUT - MERIDIAN CITY. . MERIDIAN MAYOR Jason A. Monks. , Lisa V. Paternoster . Randy A. Pew , Gerry Sweet. Tammy L. de Weerd. , MERTDIAN CITY COUNCIL SEAT 1 John T. Shawcroft. . David Zaremba . MERIDIAN CITY COUNCIL SEAT 3 Patrick Malloy. , Charles Rountree . ADA COUNTY IDAHO SPECIAL ELECTION NOV 2011 NOVEMBER 8, 2011 VOTES PERCENT 28 100.00 35, 896 8, 491 23.65 1,669 19.71 144 1.70 40 .47 2,257 26.65 4,359 51.47 2,605 35.12 4,812 64.88 3,917 99.08 4,335 55.92 eri ian iy uncillVleein _1' r November 29, 2011 I`f 8 J T U ITEM TITLE: Certificate of Zoning Compliance (CZC) Year in Review Report MEETING NOTES ~,~ -fr..~,,~ Community Item/Presentations Presenter Contact Info./Notes CLERKS OFFICE FINAL ACTION DATE: I E-~STAFF TOI AGENCOY I APPLICANT ( NOTES ( INITIALS Mri i icy uncil t®n T :November 29, 2011 ~ 9 J 1° lJ ITEM TITLE: Fairview Access Management Plan Presentation and Update MEETING NOTES Community Item/Presentations Presenter Contact Info./Notes CLERKS OFFICE FINAL ACTION DATE: (E-MSTAFF TOI AGENCOY ( APPLICANT I NOTES ( INITIALS Rebecca W. Arnold, President John S. Franden, Vice President Carol A. McKee, Commissioner Sara M. Baker, Commissioner David L. Case, Commissioner November 23, 2011 TO: Tammy de Weerd, Mayor Meridian City Council Planning and Zoning Commissioners FROM: Caleb Hood, Planning Manager CC: Meridian City Clerk RE: Fairview Access Management Plan November 29t1i City Council-Planning& Zoning Commission Joint Meeting Executive Summary The Ada County Highway District is studying Fairview Avenue between Linder Road in Meridian and Orchard Street in Boise. This project has been a cooperative effort between ACRD, Meridian and Boise Cities. Initially ACRD studied Fairview Avenue with future widening in mind; however, due to funding constraints that part of the study is on hold. However, the agencies have previously agreed to proceed with completing the Access Management Plan for Fairview. Background In cooperation with Meridian and Boise staff, a draft Access Management Plan was prepared as part of Fairview Avenue, Linder Road to Orchard Street Concept Design to optimize the capacity, operations, and safety of Fairview Avenue. The goal of the plan is to balance local land use planning and economic goals with the safe and efficient operation of Fairview Avenue. The purpose of the Fairview Access Management Plan is to increase safety and reduce congestion on Fairview by using a set of tools that allow both the Cities and ACRD to control access. ACRD envisions that implementation of the Access Management Plan would be along-term endeavor, with some elements being implemented with redevelopment along the corridor (e.g. -cross-access requirements) and others occurring as an ACHD project (e.g. -center medians). The Fairview Avenue draft Concept Design focuses on improving mobility and safety throughout the corridor. With corridor widening not likely to occur for many years, access management tools allow the Cities and ACRD to address both mobility and safety without the huge cost and impact of widening. By implementing access management tools such as cross access, medians, u-turns, and right-in right-out only driveways, the agencies can begin to improve haffic mobility and safety. Why implement Access Management? Fairview Avenue is a significant regional transportation facility within the cities of Boise and Meridian. Ada County Highway District • 3775 Adams Street • Garden City, ID • 83714 • PH 208 387-6100 • FX 345-7650 • www.achd.ada.id.us Traffic forecasts along the Fairview Avenue corridor for the year 2035 range fiom approximately 31,000 to 63,000 vehicles per day but many areas of the corridors already see these volumes. As the results show, respondents to the ACRD survey said they experience congestion and delays now and sometimes choose to avoid the roadway. Cm7ently, Fairview Avenue has at least two of the highest accident locations in the county (Fairview Avenue/Eagle Road and Fairview Avenue/Cole). The goal of the Access Management Plan is to establish a long range plan for Fairview Avenue that will improve traffic capacity, minimize crashes, and maintain travel mobility in concert with the Cities long term land use objectives for the corridor. What were the results of the Public Outreach Effort? ACRD has sent out many mailers, surveys and held pi ublic information meetings regarding Fairview Avenue over the past 4 or 5 years. On September 14t', 2011, ACRD held a Public Involvement Meeting (PIM) for the Fairview Avenue Access Management Plan project. The public comment period was left open until September 28ti'. More than 30,000 invitations were mailed, 14 sandwich board sings were put up along Fairview, more than 400 e-mail invitations were sent, and advertisements were placed in the Statesman publicizing the PIM. Ninety-six people attend the PIM and 102 written comments were received; 51 respondents identified themselves as business representatives/owners. Comments received were summarized in a thank you letter sent to those that attended the PIM and/or provided written comment and gave contact information. The following are the summary results of the comments received: Do ,you support the goals of the Fairview ~i~~e Access Management Plan: G From the 102 written continents 29% Yes 71°lo No c~ From the 51 business continents 13% Yes 87% No Is there a specificL of the Access <<Ianageuient Plan you are concerned about: r_~ From the 102 written connnents 79% Yes 21 % No o From the 51 business continents 88% Yes 12% No C.'U1111I1OA 1`~lE?711E'.S: o Raised meciiaus limit access and clislllpt businesses • Concerns about out-of-direction travel to get to a destination o Cross access will negatively impact businesses ® U-turns will cause more congestion and accidents • Delivery trucks won't be able to make U-torus • Services roads cut tlu•ough existing property anti buildings ® ~~Taste of tax money Is there a specific area on Fair~~iew A~~enite that you are concerned about: o From the 102 written continents 74% Yes 26% No o Front the S 1 business comments 78% Yes 22°~'o No o Nearly every section of Fairview was represented in the collunents General Comment themes: o Short-sighted plali ~ Better places to use tax dollars o Doesn't inalte good business sense o Medians are too resh~ictive o Raised medians and TJ-turns will brut businesses Ada County Highway District • 3775 Adams Street • Garden City, ID • 83714 • PH 208 387-6100 • FX 345-7650 • www.achd.ada.id.us Page 2 of 5 Before the September PIM, ACRD mailed approximately 31,000 brochures that defined what the current problems are and what access management means, and asked stakeholders to complete an on- line survey and directed them to a 3D visualization on the ACRD website. 327 total responses were received with 22 of those respondents identifying themselves as business owners. Before the brochure and 3D visualization project, ACRD went door-to-door and also hosted an open house on this project. Studying Fairview and developing an Access Management Plan has resulted in a construction project(s) along Fairview. This initial project(s) contains elements from both the AMP and the concept design and primarily involved construction of a center median in Fairview Avenue. Right now, in Draft A of the ACHD 2013-2017 Five Year Work Plan, construction of the center median and associate a-turn and 3/a turn pockets are planned to begin in 2017. What next? A joint meeting with ACRD and Boise was previously scheduled to discuss the Fairview AMP project, including the September PIM results, but has since been cancelled. ACHD will be inviting the Council to a joint meeting after the first of the year. As noted above, the Access Management Plan contains ways in which access, safety, and congestion on Fairview can be improved over time. City staff and two of the Council members have served on teams at ACHD drafting and reviewing the plan. Today the Cities and ACRD can use access management tools and techniques; however, with adoption of this plan the agencies will work together to ensure the safe and efficient travel of our respective stakeholders now and in the future. ACRD and City staff intends to bring the Access Management Plan to the Council at a future date for adoption. The Executive Summary from the Draft Fairview AMP is provided in an attachment. For additional information on the Fairview AMP go to ACHD's website: http://achdidaha.org/Pro1 eetslPublicPro~eet.aspx`?Proj ectID=178 Attachments: Fairview Access Management Executive Summary Ada County Highway District • 3775 Adams Street • Garden City, ID • 83714 • PH 208 387-6100 • FX 345-7650 • www.achd.ada.id.us Page 3 of 5 1"air•a~iese~ Aveture Cizncca~t Design Drgp`tAct'evs,4iattar,~eutenl Rep~uY Adz County Hic,hwny Diitrict For art arterial roadway, t}te manageutertt of access IC~CatiolllS and their design is the roost critical eiert~at impacting loth term roadway capacity, laublic safety, artd travel time. "1'lte intent of this Access I4'ianagement Plan is to help ensure tite Fairview Avenue corridor operates well into ilte future as a principal arterial with good mobility and safety. "This report provides recomnterrdatiorts for rtlanaging access aad th+a ~~rFormuace b;tsis for those t•ec.~onr-uenrl~ttions, The Access I4'Tanagemertt Flan (An~~IP) includes the following recommended access utanagetttent tecltttigttes for the Fairview Avenue corridor trefer Co Figure, d- for tite access management reconunendations~: ~ Limit traffic. signal spacing on the Fairview Avenue ronidor to approxuuately 1/2 mile spacing, Install median islands on Fairview Avenue froth Linder Road to (~rchtu•d ~b•r~et, Lireaks in tlt~a rt~edian islands will be provided at tl~~ signalized intersections rind at selected un-signalized loratrorts, o At each location that allows left turns, it is teconuuended that a-turn pockets ~ considered for each dir•ec.tion of travel foreach U~ mile segment near the rya mile location prefer to Figures :'~ and =l). Llrrcler~ the appropriate conditions some of these locations Wray tivarY~ant a 314 rnovertteut irriersection. Such locations could allow left-turns front Fairview Avenue while restricting IefC- torus onto Fairview Avenue {refer to Figures 3 acrd ~-). Where appropriates these intersections would allow for more flexiliiliiy but would be safer and more efficient. than the use of 1/d mile full-movement intersections, Tha aim of installing the mec~lian islands is to limit the overwhelming majority of access points ou Fairview Avenue to right-tarn-only access bright-iu and right-out movements only. e A rhos°e complete secondary network of local and collector streets ~circtrlator roads) is reconunended to be constructed tlu•ough the local agencies and AC'HL). This is to trilow land abutting Fairvie~~~ Avenue direct access in local streets and r•eclul^e the need for° direct access. This also allows local traffic to move east~~vest artd connect to the rtorilt~south rands that provide access to Fairview Avenue. ~ Misting access points to Fairview Avenue that do hat coufor°m to the access rnnnagement plan wwill ~ eliminated when opportunities are presented. (i.e. redevelopment). * 1~lanage access on Fairview Avenue by rewiring cross access agreements for abutting properties. ~ Improved access design acrd site layout will l~ required in dte event of new or redeveloped parcels through the land use approval process. Improved curls return driveway design as well as site layout that allows cross access ta: ill be required. ~ Upon cleveiopment or redevelopment new anchor existing access poirris to Fair~~•ie~~~ Avenue tltai rlo not. conform to the access managerneut plan will not be approved. Also, if any access to Fairview Avenue is required under the existing conditions that is not necessary under the long- term access management. plan, it sha11 ~ graute~d only tempor<~ry access. Once implementation of a }slanned ituprovement such as the construction of a circulator road allows for other access to the parcel, the temporary access to Fnirvieiv Avenue should lie removed (refer to the section titled "Elimination of Access Points" far more detailed infornrttion).. t Busses are the only for°m of transit. curtiently utilizing Fairview Avenue trnd currently, the only planned for•ru of transit as well. Valley Regional Transit (A'R'T} 's Long Range Plans incclude Aprir 2Q~~? (Paramztris 3t4-?:i54-4t i hiarr~t~ics.~Avcrnr~ C."arr~cpt Ucsftrr L~r~~/}ArcPxs,b~carrt~;crrterrt Rcpc~rp Ada County Hi~hw~ay Dish•iet e~pnnsion of the Fairview Avenue Est-s !Dote tc~ include tl~~ entire Fairview car-~idor, fi'unt Linder Rand to Orchard Strut, Ftltule Eius stops on Fairview Avenue (~etwe~en Milwaukee St-~et ~. Linder Roac~l will Eye cousidet~d during future design phases. ~rRT prefers Eius stops to Eye in~line versus pullouts ;tad this issue tivill Eye adch~ssed during future design phases. * Any nets C411Strt-CtlC~li \vill include acconuuodations for pedestrians and bicyclists. The cembin:~tien of ttccess management strategies, as outlined in the Fairview Avenue A14~IF, along with roadway widening and atlter iml7roveme-ris identified in the Fauwiew Avenue C"oltcept Design will provide the long term level of efl-iciency and perfar-nance, desired by the pt-blic and necessary for the ~?conomic growth of the 1ren. Ada County Highway District • 3775 Adams Street • Garden City, ID • 83714 • PH 208 387-6100 • FX 345-7650 • www.achd.ada.id.us Page 5 of 5 ri i ity uncil etin T N®vember 29, 2011 I 10 J ~T ITEM TITLE: Airport Rd. -Overland Rd. Study Presentation and Update MEETING NOTES ~a~~i ~,or t~ Community Item/Presentations Presenter Contact Info./Notes CLERKS OFFICE FINAL ACTION DATE: I E-MSTAFF TOI AGENCY I APPLICANT I NOTES I INITIALS November 23, 2011 MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Tammy de Weerd City Council Members Planning & Zoning Commissioners CC: City Clerk FROM: Caleb Hood, Planning Manager RE: Airport Road -Overland Road Study November 29t~' City Council-Planning& Zoning Commission Joint Meeting Over the past year, an Airport-Overland Road Corridor Study was developed. This study was a collaborative effort between the Cities of Meridian and Nampa, Nampa Highway District No. 1 and ACRD, funded primarily through a grant the City of Nampa received. The intent of this study was to identify a direct route between the Nampa Airport/Garrity Road Interchange in Canyon County and the newly realigned Overland Road/Ten Mile Road intersection in Meridian. The primary reason for this route is to improve the east-west connectivity south of the Interstate. While other roadways exist in the area between the Interstate -Victory Road, Ten Mile Road, and Garrity Boulevard -they do not provide a continuous connection; an uninterrupted Overland Road would serve that purpose. As demand continues to grow on and around the Garrity Interchange, thereby causing more congestion, an additional east-west route provides drivers with another option for east-west travel (similar to how Franklin Road north of the Interstate functions). Of the six alternatives developed through input from stakeholders, the public, the cities, and the highway districts, Routes 2B and 2C emerged as the preferred alternatives (see exhibit below.) When considering alternatives 2B and 2C, neither option was clearly defined as being better than the other relative to purpose, environmental impact, operational performance, and cost. As noted in the final draft of the study, the Technical Advisory Committee (consisting of staff members from the aforementioned agencies) recommended 2B as the preferred alignment. The 2035 traffic projections show that existing road segments, Victory and Amity Roads, have sufficient capacity for the proposed land-uses south of the freeway. This condition could change if the City's future land use designations are revised/intensified in South Meridian. The need for 3 or 5 lanes for an Airport Road/Overland Road connection may change based upon the City's planning efforts over the next year, however, it is not envisioned that the alignment would change. Planning Department ®33 E. Broadway Avenue, Meridian, ID 8364z Phone zo8-884-5533 Fax zo8-888-6854 . www.meridiancity.org Page 2 ;, - ar. ~+ ~ v~ s~ !n ~~ w w a - n r-~ b . ; c-~ ! . - ~ '~' to ary W ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ i ~` ~ ~ ~ I ,, ~ ~ A ~ ~ ~ ( ~ 4 `3 k~ 4/ ~n ~ ~ 1 T. . ! ~ tv c=~ sy If _ ~ C ~ ~ ar ~~ ~ ~' - i=J F J L ' ..~ la J ~'7 !'h LJ ~ . ~ ~ t ~ ~ ° s e _ ~ ~ - ? ~ I. t ~' ( { ~ ~ ~ s t' ~ f 4= ti"~' ~-~ ~~ . - ~~ ~ c G r~ g ~~ r ~, '~ t ~ # , c ~ v, ~ ~' ~ i~ I 'r .. r .. i .. l I . i 3 ~ _ - ~ ~ i S~ ~ ._ ~ [_~' _ - f ,bff( t II , i' .l £"~.. K+ t 3 F=~ .l, r s ` j ~ ~ i 4z~' ~ r-~s .' ~ ~ ~ .. 3 A r ~ n ~ . ~ ~ ~ .t _ 1 _ - :~ i .~ r 9 f l d ~ ~ . - , ~ ~ ~ a r. .ii ~ i ~ ~'t; to _._ ~ N ~ ~ u., i E ~ _ ~, : c ~ _ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ c~ a F ~ ~ I ~ c ~' ~~ tlJ ~ { I 1 ~ ~ X11 •.\ ~~ If i ~ I - {{ 1 f ~ F ~_ ~ ~ 'Itl} ~ ~ ~ R ~) i r®dian ity ®uncillVleet®n T :November 29. 2011 ~ u~ 11 J NlJ ITEM TITLE: South Meridian Future Land Use Request for Proposal (RFP) Information MEETING NOTES ~~.~ ~~~. Community Item/Presentations Presenter Contact Info./Notes CLERKS OFFICE FINAL ACTION DATE: I E_MSTAFF TOI AGENCY ( APPLICANT I NOTES INITIALS r® ian ®y ®uncillVletirt MEETING NoTEs Ca~~ Community Item/Presentations Presenter Contact Info./Notes CLERKS OFFICE FINAL ACTION DATE: I E-MSTAFF TOI AGENCY I APPLICANT I NOTES I INITIALS November 23, 2011 MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Tammy de Weerd City Council Members Planning & Zoning Commissioners CC: City Clerk FROM: Caleb Hood, Planning Manager RE: Potential Comprehensive Plan Text Changes November 29, 2011 Joint City Council -P&Z Commission Agenda Item In April, the City Council adopted a new and improved Comprehensive Plan for the City. While this award-winning plan has proven to be an enhancement over the 2002 version, there are some areas that are in need of revision. Staff would like to quickly run through some of the more significant Comp Plan Text amendments (CPAT) identified by staff during the November 29'x' Joint Meeting and requests Council and Commission comments before an application is submitted. CPAT#l: On page 44 of the Comprehensive Plan, there is some text regarding a Future Acquisitions Map (FAM). This text currently states that City Staff will work on putting together a FAM. During the 8/9 City Council workshop, direction was given to forego a FAM at this time, and instead work on a master facilities map. This consolidated map would primarily be used for internal use and coordination, but could also be used as development occurs. Below are the text changes staff is proposing for the FAM section, pg. 44 of the Comp Plan. r'^mN~•°'~°„~~~•° "'°N. Idaho Code §67-6517 allows the City to designate lands on a map that are proposed for public acquisition and/or facilities. To compose this map, the City needs to first identify properties or areas where facilities and infrastructure improvements are planned over the next 20 years. Facilities and utilities that could be designated on this map include, but are not limited to: fire stations, parks, open space, and recreation areas, pathways, well sites, Waste Water Treatment Plant expansion lands, utility facility corridors, streets, overpasses and highways, and some properties downtown where infrastructure is planned. In 2010, Planning Department staff convened a group of agency and department representatives to explore potential facilities for inclusion on a FAM. '','~~~ T~•°•~„ •~~~~~ co:~ti :,,° tc . ^,a; ^n p, ++• ~ + s +r, ~ ~ ~~• Instead of composing a FAM, Cit~taff will work together to compose a Future Facilities Map that shows the City's PAGE 1 infiastructure needs on one consolidated map. It is not the intention to use Idaho Code §67-6715 to implement this map but for it to primarily used internall and as development occurs within the City After composition City Staff will 'tee ~~ '~t~~ make a recommendation to the City Council on whether this facilities map should be adopted as part of the Comprehensive Plan, adopted by Council Resolution, or only used at the staff level. CPAT#2: Changes to clarify intent of design element guidelines within the Comp Plan and UDC are needed, to create greater consistency between these two documents. The Ten Mile Interchange Specific Area Plan (TMISAP) has a number of sections where the text does not fully describe intent, where descriptions are open to misinterpretation, and where text conflicts with other City documents such as the Unified Development Code (UDC). These proposed changes are intended to bring additional clarification to the TMISAP and create greater consistency with other City documents and development tools. The proposed changes to the TMISAP (which is adopted by reference in the Comp Plan) are general clarifications of text, occurring throughout Chapter 3, and all relate to the look and feel of new development. The largest proposed change is specific to canopies and awnings, and is intended to bring greater consistency with the UDC. Currently, terminology in the TMISAP specific to canopies not only overlaps in intent with other areas of the plan, such as Awnings and Buildings to Scale, but conflicts with terminology used in the UDC. The UDC definition of canopies is fundamentally different from the Plan, where the UDC references construction requirements intended to support vehicular scale design, and the Plan references pedestrian scale guidelines that restrict vehicles. Because the intent of Canopies as described in the TMISAP is intended to bring pedestrian scale elements and protection, and because this is already covered in both the Buildings to Scale and Awnings section, this section is easily removed without loss of descriptive clarity. Proposed changes to the Comp Plan are generally intended as clarifications of text or minor adjustments to enhance compatibility with the UDC and Design Manual, but in one instance a section is removed. On page 3-45 of the TMISAP, staff proposes removal of the content related to Canopies. Staff proposes removing this section because the UDC definition of canopies is fundamentally different from the Plan, where the UDC references construction requirements intended to support vehicular scale design, and the Plan references pedestrian scale guidelines that restrict vehicles. Furthermore, the intent of this section, which is to add pedestrian scale building enhancements, is also discussed in the Buildings to Scale section, and in the immediately preceding section on Awnings. The UDC change occurs to allow for additional sign lighting in Meridian that is within the vision of the Plan. The proposed changes to the UDC by staff would allow for additional forms of awning sign lighting currently prohibited in the UDC, but preferred in the Plan. Additionally, combined guidelines between the Plan and policy in the UDC cur7ently prohibit virtually all forms of awning sign lighting in the Plan, which is not the intent. A PAGE 2 proposed change to the Plan would also discourage backlit and internally lit signs within the Plan area, rather than disallow, since the UDC allows for their use. Below are the text changes staff is proposing to the TMISAP. Page 3-9 Low Density Employment areas should be This helps to apply designed ~~ 1~:.'er d°r°~*=' "__'~••"''"„ "*-''° consistent design a°•'°'^H~N°•~+". with elements of Traditional elements throughout the Neighborhood Design. TMISAP, to LDE. Previous terminology was undefined and vague. Page 3-36 The TND streetscape relates to the street itself and Changes terminology to consists of landscaped +r°T~ parkways with be consistent with UDC. trees between curbs and sidewalks, the adjacent sidewalks, front yard spaces, and the building frontages. Page 3-41 The primaiy'~" fagade materials for Changes terminology to sh•ttctures within a Mixed Use Residential, Mixed reflect intent of guideline Use Commercial or Lifestyle Center area should be without impacting masonry, particularly at street level. construction method. Page 3-45, Within the Mixed Use Commercial areas and the Minimum wallcway is 5' Awnings, Lifestyle Center area, awnings shall extend a around buildings; change Paragraph 2 miniinum of ~ 5 feet from the facade of the fronting to reflect minimum structure; 8 feet is preferable in wider pedestrian awning size without environments. The bottom edge of an awning shall extending past wallcway. be no less than 8 feet above the sidewalk immediately below, and no more than 10 feet above. Commercial and office buildings located in other areas are encouraged to incorporate awnings. Page 3-45, ~=a~e~ies This section is Canopies inconsistent with UDC C°„^.,;°" ° ° I;~,ed l.orizon+°~ ~^,. „°.,..~,. ~ + ~~ i ==~r=~J ~_ ~ term nology. Intent also .,~.~Ne;:u„u ~= overlaps discussions held voila r„ '+" "+ +^ " +~. "+ .. ~~ ~ ~ a ~ ., in both Buildings to Scale of liaht~ar°;..1,+,,,.,+°,.;.,1" °ru "t' t v uiv v b--~ ~ • ~=b=== ___~_~_ =~=J u== J = u a==~P=~~-~ r and Awnings sections. .~ ..=., .,=..,J=u , #'• ' ~d ~e~- ' ° " - ds ~ d , g ~ ~ , ~n .,~pe V - , ---- __ =a== ~- _»~ b end:-viduwl cuRO ~ i b d a + ~ * *'~ p ., vu. y v is=1 ~ a ° ^ t; J ^'F t~ + + + + ~ ~,__,., uY,,,..=~J, .,u, - eiicc ~ : ° - ...., 1 .. ccircrrcirr. ~ unvpic~-:irn~csrc[-ctrccmTStt Tl,° 1 ~3~d -~~@@t~ i' - ~ b~ ' ' t t ~ S rJ @ @~z ~ ~. ~~. ~~ t..,.,= v„-cc ~ ~ ^~ ' "'' ''ir ° ^ i^ • ti 4 Z° ° i v " ' + l ~ ~ ~ . xu ~ v uv vrr v= iu i ir v v- vv T i. ti-- ~ Ip rya®s=,.,n, ,.,,a , ^ t,;,.~,°,.+i,,,., ~ n ~ ,.+,.i.,..,,, :+ J=U V Y PAGE 3 Page 3-45 Replace top trvo images, colzrrzm one from left, 1~~ith Remove /replace "good" pictzrres of cnvnings. Replace top image, column (not crossed out) images ttivo, with non vinyl ativnizzg image. that do not provide awning examples consistent with definition Page 3-34, The key elements to consider are the continuity of This helps to related Buildings to the building sizes, how the street-level and upper- terminology in Design Scale, level architechu•al detailing is treated, elements that Manual with TMISAP. Paragraph anchor and emphasize pedestrian scale, roof forms, Relates to the intent of rhythm of windows and doors, and general removed canopy section. relationship of buildings to public spaces such as streets, plazas, other open space, and public parking. Page 3-46, Bacldit or internally lit signs ~''^" ~~+'~° ~"^~~~°~' Inconsistent with UDC, paragraph 2 are discouraged. without creating exception areas, which allows for these types of signs. Page 3-49 In the Design Element mats°ix, under LDR, check References guidelines "Residential Buildings ", under Str°eet of°iented most easily met on larger design properties in the LDR, which are consistent with all other residential areas. CPAT#3: Currently, the Goals, Objectives and Action Items tables at the end of each chapter lack a priority ranking and numbering system. Throughout the past year, Planning has coordinated with each City Departments to prioritize the Objectives and Goals for which they are listed as the "Responsible Lead." We now have responses back from all departments and would like to present these priorities to the Council for inclusion in the Comp Plan (we won't run through all of these on the 29t~', but will provide them all in the staff report during the public hearings.) Additionally, staff has been working to identify a numbering system for quick policy reference. On the next page is an example of how the new policy tables at the end of each Comp Plan chapter may look. PAGE 4 t> i r-~ ~~ @3 ~~ r- (?} C? F ,. C~ ~` _~ ~+1 U ;a ~# --` - ?~ t ~,~ ,~ ° ,,. , ~ ~ y ~¢~ ~ ~ 4'-- ti al ~ ?_ ~ a ~'~~ ~ J ~ pp ; ~ L"-.~ . -~ ~ ``=~ ~:~ .~ '-'t ~... r ~~ -i 8'~--~ ' ~ tom. ~~ ~ J *' t i fat u ~~ 7.. :' '~ ,~ [ ~ ~7 ~ +~' ~ t r~ it s;o r," ~ , ~~ ~ ~. *~ ~' l ~fi {~ ~ ''~ 7D jJ ~ ~ p „ j ~ _i ~ 93 4p ~ ~ W ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ /Ji ~ ~ v ~ ~ ~ ~ r. _~ 1 t J 1 ? . ~ bS ~ '.~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~ ~ '~ ~ ~ f3, ~ ~ Il 1 ~ ,. Y ~ r~ ~ s ` ti ~ ~ rn ' ~ C ` n ~ ~ ~i ,~-~' . ,c, L ~ ~ ~ nC I 271 ` r ' ~ ~ f_ ll ~ c ~ :J ni ~ 'G jn r~ ~ ~ 1 1 [ ~ t- ~ ~ ~.r L:. ~ ~ ~ A y ~yj; ,~ ~ }} 1 7 4~ L . tJ t E F U .. n C) []. 1 ~ t ?? 41 f 1 ? f] ~ i~ ~}. ~ +~ F ~ .I ~ i -~~ ~ ll t. ~ tl ~~ it [' Q~ J I ~ ~I ~ n. n (J ~~ ~~ ~ ~ rtF ~ ~y W : ~ - 1J CL ~, [: s~. ~ ~ aJ t~l : t u cl t' -; i n~ " kf c~ j l i~ l { {i. [,_ jj ;; c w 1 CJ. ~t Cy. c5 ikktee V1 L'1 ~ _1 V! [13 ~ GL ~a :~= ^-~ air m ~ in tti f•5 ~•i rn ca r-t r m ~ rat ~ k', -tt~ `^~ o r~i .-~ a~. ~: r,l ri c~y r7 rd ~ N ~~; r+l o nl r rv c; ~ (J ~ N ~~-s, t~ ~E ~ i`f ids r a5d m PAGE 5 CPAT#4: The 2010 Existing Conditions Report of the Comprehensive Plan contains an error where a portion of text is covered by a graphic and is not visible. This amendment is to reconcile this formatting error and ensure that all text is easily and fully readable. This fix also adjusts the formatting of several pages before and after in an effort to prevent the additional text from cascading changes throughout the chapter. This formatting error occurred in the final document and was not present during previous drafts reviewed by Council. Below are the text changes staff is proposing to the Existing Conditions Report section of the Comprehensive Plan. Paragraphs Livable Streets Design Guide Underlined impacted sections are include those The final tool in the TL1P toolbox is the Livable Streets those hidden by on Pg 47 and Design Guide. The Guide sets the design parameters for the graphic Pg 48. Hidden roadways in Ada County. After referring to the Master text occurs on Street Map to see what type of roadway is planned, a Pg 48 behind developer, agency staff, or the general public can go to the Figure 8. Guide to see what elements are specifically envisioned for any arterial and collector roadway. Based on the City's land use components contained in the Comprehensive Plan, pathway locations on the Master Pathway Plan and ACHD's needs for capacity, the Livable Streets Design Guide illustrates what each st1•eet typology should look like. There are customized cross sections within the Guide for access, the pedestrian zone, parking transit bic c~les buffers, travel lanes and landscaping. Figure 8 depicts a typical roadway typology. The City of Meridian is committed to working with local transportation authorities, specifically ACRD COMPASS, and ITD, to protect ke ty ransportation corridors as regional transportation routes and ateways to not only Meridian, but also to Boise, Eagle Star Kuna Nampa, and Caldwell. The City of Meridian has also been coordinating with ITD to determine the most appropriate alignment of the fiit<ue SH 16 extension and to preserve appropriate rights-of--ways and access point locations for all state hi hways; the City has effective land use policies and development codes that preserve future transportation corridors. Mobility Management Mobility management is a concept that focuses on using all available resom•ces to augment and advance mobility for all people. Several strategies are typically used to meet the needs of citizens from all walks of life. In 2009 COMPASS, through a Federal grant developed the Mobility Management Development Guidebook to help PAGE 6 local governments establish partnerships and collaborate to provide the most efficient transportation system. The guidebook is a resource manual of best practices that incorporates transit access, mobility enhancements, and site, and road design. The guidebook includes a checklist for local governments, developers, and others to incoipo~•ate access and mobility into land use decisions. The guidebook also explores how providing several choices in mode, helps serve all roadway users. 1`lext Stens -Taking into account any feedback on the changes mentioned staff will proceed forward with an application to amend the text of the Comprehensive Plan. The amendment application will include the items mentioned in this memo, as well as some additional administrative clean-ups to the Mixed-Use designations in Chapter 3. This application should be heard sometime early next year. Staff will also be working on, but will not submit until the middle part of 2012, another Comp Plan Text amendment that includes text for the South Meridian area (and a Comp Plan Map amendment for land use designations in this area too), incorporation or cross-reference of the Airport Road- Overland Road Study and an "Agriculture" element as now required by new Idaho Code. PAGE 7 e~®ian iy uncillVlein CV"V ~~~~ MEETING NoTEs Community Item/Presentations Presenter Contact Info./Notes CLERKS OFFICE FINAL ACTION ur se The purpose of the City Core Right of Way (ROW) encroachment certificate is to allow for streetscape encroachments within the downtown City Core. All proposed encroachments should contribute to the appeal, marketability, and overall character of downtown. ROW encroachments are intended to give businesses the opportunity to provide additional streetscape amenities and improvements such as outdoor dining barriers, planters, bike racks, and other encroachments. streetscape amenities are intended to be of benefit to business owners, their patrons, and the general public, and therefore should not negatively impact this public space. It is critical to downtown that through provision of ROW encroachment, that the charm, character, and unique atmosphere of the downtown City Core, be protected. inns streetscape: The area between back of curb and face of building. streetscape Improvement: Permanent encroachments per the City of Meridian streetscape Design Guidelines made within public ROW such as street lights, street trees, tree grates, and pavers. (see Unified Development Code 11-2D-4) Building Improvement: In the City Core within the public ROW, a building improvement is any extension of the building into public ROW, such as a canopy or awning,: Amenities: Within the public ROW, amenities are nori-permanent, easily-movable objects intended to benefit the general public,'such as chairs, tables, planters, and umbrellas. Encroachment: The advance or installation of amenities or streetscape improvements within the public ROW, Use Area: The leading lines running perpendicular to the street from each corner of the occupied building business space, and the fine parallel the street edge running in front of the occupied business space, excluding the pedestrian clear zone and street furnishing zone. Street Furnishing Zone: streetscape improvements typically installed within an 8 foot wide zone along the back of curb. Improverz~ents usually consist of thematic street lights, street trees, benches, planters, and trash receptacles. For additional Street Furnishing Zone information, see the City of Meridian Downtown streetscape Design Guidelines. Clear Zone: A minimum 5 foot wide linear pedestrian area to be uninterrupted and without obstructions adjacent all use areas, proposed amenities, and street furnishings. The clear zone is required to be outside of the Street Furnishing Zone, be a paved surface, and run more or less parallel with the street edge. On E Idaho Ave and E Broadway Ave between Main Street and N East 2"d Street, the clear zone may encroach upon the Street Furnishing Zone and be only 4 feet in width, but is required to be outside of streetscape improvements such as trees, lights, and other improvements and still run more or less parallel with the street edge. Wayfinding Signage: Any sign erected by or under the authority of the City of Meridian for direction to places of general interest. Figure 01: Area Definitions Public ROW Note: For new streetscape ~ improvements or ~• ~ alterations of existing '+~ Improvements within , the Public ROW, see Streetscope j Improvements sect(a~. ~, ~. S r ~ ~ .~ Curb Varies ~~~ 6' typ. ,~, 8' typ. ,~, ,~ Street (no touclilel) Use Area J l Street furnishing Zone Examples: Exart~ples: » Outdoor dining » Shippingdrop-offs » Tables »News-stands » Planters » Chairs Clear Zone » Thls area is required to be kept clear for pedestrian use An encroachment certificate is required for use of public ROW in the City Core. The City Core is defined as the area between the North side of E Carlton Ave, immediately North of the Railroad tracks, the West side of N Meridian Road, and the east side of N East Third Street. See Figure 02 for map. A City Core ROW encroachment certificate is only applicable for a property adjacent to a use area. When an applicant does not have an adjacent property, amenities are only allowed within the streetscape furnishing zone (see streetscape Furnishing Zone section for requirements and limitations). - No ROW encroachment certificate or other permit is required for short-term personal convenience amenities such as chairs intended for limited durations, provided they are out of the way and leave ample space for pedestrians. When un-occupied or not in-use, short-term amenities are required to be stowed outside of the public ROW. Page ~ 2 - For special events and temporary uses, a temporary use permit is required, not a City Core ROW encroachrYient certificate. A ROW encroachment certificate is required for all other proposed encroachments in the City Core. A ROW encroachment certificate does not permit new or additional uses; a certificate of zoning compliance permit is required. - Canopies and awnings which do not project more than 2 feet into public ROW do not require a City Core ROW encroachment per UDC 11-2D-3A. - Regulatory signage erected under authority of the City of Meridian and in conformance with ACRD Policy for Roadside Traffic Signs is exempt from a City Core ROW encroachment certificate. Page ~ 3 Figure 02: Limits of City Core ROW Encroachment Certificate Applicability Streetscape Improvements - Proposed Streetscape improvements or modification of existing improvements within the public ROW are required to fully comply with the City of Meridian Downtown Streetscape Design Guidelines, any applicable Development Services Design Standards, and are subject to design review. See also the Streetscape Improvements section. - Building improvements within the public ROW, with the exception of awnings and canopies, require a full certificate of zoning compliance (CZC) and design review, which is a separate process. - Streetscape improvements within the public ROW require a CZC verification (CZCV) certificate (see Streetscape improvements section), and may require a design review. P S$ As part of the application, the following items are required: application, photo examples or other visual of any proposed barriers components, and a site plan depicting the street, building indicating windows and entry points, and proposed layout of improvements. If proposed improvements will require a building permit, then additional materials may be required. The typical process is as follows: 1. Submit completed CZCV application with all supporting documentation 2. Review and receive comments 3. Applicant submits any revisions or additional information (as needed) 4. Certificate of approval or denial letter within 10 business days tand~r Gec~esral I~egulatrov~ Applicants are required to meet all General regulation requirements, now and in the future, regardless of changes made to the public ROW. Failure of continued compliance by the applicant by these or amended. regulations at any time may result in the certificate being revoked. The following are requirements for all amenity encroachments into public street ROW: - Requests for ROW encroachments are required to meet all applicable requirements of Title 11, Chapter 3 in the Unified Development Code (UDC). Where these requirements and Chapter 3 regulation conflict, the City Core ROW Encroachment regulation supersedes. - Applicants are required to meet all conditions within 8-4-4B of Meridian City Code. Page ~ 4 - For applicants with an adjacent business, amenities are only allowed within their use area. For applicants without an adjacent business, see the streetscape furnishing zone regulation section. - A minimum 5 foot clear zone is required adjacent all use areas and proposed amenities, parallel to the street and pedestrian environment. - Amenities and other improvements which alter existing streetscape and or building improvements within public ROW are subject to design review. - Securing or fastening amenities to trees, lights, paved surfaces, or other streetscape improvements is prohibited. - Food and drink may only be sold and served within a certified use area. - An applicant may receive a certificate for a use area or an area of the streetscape furnishing zone, not both, and an applicant is only allowed one active City Core ROW encroachment certificate at a time. Additional certificates may be allowed for general streetscape improvements made on behalf of the City, per City of Meridian Downtown streetscape Design guidelines. - Mechanical equipment such as fans, heaters, or- generators, will not be allowed with a City Core ROW encroachment certificate. - Trash enclosures and general product /equipment storage not%specifically allowed and installed per City of Meridian Downtown streetscape Design Guidelines will not be allowed with a City Core ROW encroachment certificate. - ATM's and other automated dispensing machines will not be allowed with a City Core ROW encroachment certificate. - Area carpets or coverings, raised platforms such as decks, and other walkway surface coverings will not be allowed with a City Core ROW encroachment certificate. - City Core encroachment certificates are non-transferable. - Proposed streetscape improvements which are permanent and deviate from, or propose features not covered within the City of Meridian streetscape Design Guidelines will not be approved with a City Core ROW encroachment certificate. - Improvements or alterations within the roadway (between the back of curbs on each side of the street) will not be allowed as part of a City Core ROW encroachment certificate. - Temporary fencing or barriers not intended for public safety or special events and not for boundary delineation of an outdoor dining area with a valid City Core ROW certificate are not allowed. Page ~ 5 - Seasonal amenities are required to be stored outside of the streetscape environment when not in use. (e.g. -unprotected outdoor dining furniture during cold winter months). - Amenities which must be removed for the duration of special events are required to be stored outside of the streetscape environment. - Signage is prohibited as part of a City Core ROW Encroachment certificate except where allowed under UDC 11-3D Sign Requirements or for regulatory and wayfinding purposes granted under the authority of the City of Meridian. Use Area Regulatiov~ Promoting an engaging, unique, and pedestrian friendly environment is critical to the success and appeal of the City Core. The streetscape in the City Core is a unique and defining element of the downtown area and unlike anything elsewhere in the City. To ensure a quality visual appearance, promote a unique and attractive downtown environment, and to protect the historic image of the City Core, design standards have been created to protect this valuable resource. - For all amenities within the use area, applicants are required to be respectful of neighboring business. An applicant may be required to adjust their use area by 2 or more feet from any or all use area borders to prevent blocking pedestrian lines of sight with nearby businesses, from within the clear zone (e.g. - to prevent limiting the view of a neighboring business hanging sign or entryway). - Applicants should make all efforts to allow for as much clear zone walkway space as possible, and to limit visual obstructions within the streetscape. - Amenities should first maximize space against the building facade, and only fill out towards the streetscape as required. - Self identifying branding text, graphics, or other messaging on furniture, planters, umbrellas, and other ar7~enities associated with a City Core ROW encroachment certificate is prohibited. Planters The use of planters can add to the streetscape atmosphere by providing additional pedestrian elements and help to soften the l~ardscape environment. Planters used in conjunction with a barrier must meet all barrier requirements in the Outdoor Dining section. - Planters must not adversely impact lines of sight or create an unsafe atmosphere, must not be greater than three feet in width or length, and must not exceed barrier height restrictions. - Planters must be movable, not damage any elements of the streetscape, and be properly maintained. Planters are required to have plants. Empty planters, artificial plants, or planters with bare soil or mulch are prohibited. Page ~ 6 Furniture All furniture other than tables, chairs, benches, and umbrellas are prohibited. This prohibition includes but is not limited to: grills, bars, shelves, serving stations, and trash receptacles. Furniture under no circumstance is to be tethered to hardscape, streetscape furnishings, or landscaping in the streetscape. - Vinyl and plastic furniture is prohibited. - Furnishings may not be predominately white, fluorescent, reflective, or any other bright or vivid colors likely to impair passing pedestrians or impact driver visibility at night or in bright sunlight. Tables, Chairs, & Benches Applicants are free to use whatever table size and shapes they feel are appropriate in their use area, but should strive for efficient sizes and layout of furniture. In restricted areas such as E Idaho Ave and E Broadway Ave, small bistro styles are more efficient, and allow for greater seating opportunities outside of the street furnishing and clear zones. - Tables, chairs, and benches should reflect a similar style and appearance to each other. - Upholstered chairs are allowed, but are required to be maintained in good condition and adhere to the color requirements. Umbrellas Umbrellas which reflect the intent of design guidelines and meet the following criteria are allowed with a City Core ROW Encroachment certificate. - Umbrellas are required to be wholly within an applicant`s use area which includes the base, pole, and ribs. - When extended, umbrellas must have a minimum 7 foot clearance beneath them, including all hanging adornments. - Umbrellas must use an appropriate outdoor canvas fabric and be a predominately solid color which compliments the surrounding environment. - Umbrellas must not block lines of sight for neighboring business signs or public information, wayfinding, and regulatory signage. Lighting Applicants seeking to created additional ambience and enhance their use area are allowed to provide additional lighting to supplement streetscape lighting. Supplemental Lighting: Outdoor lighting sources not intended for vehicular use or pathway lighting and not suitable for safe and stand alone walking conditions during evening hours is considered to be supplemental lighting. Page ~ 7 - Supplemental lighting is prohibited from trespass outside of the use area and except for holiday style lighting, must be full cut off or shielded. - Supplemental lighting is required to meet all lighting regulation in 11-3A-11 of the UDC, except that direct combustion lighting is not allowed (small table candles are allowed), and non-seasonal string lighting are exempt from the 40 day duration limitation. - Non seasonal string lighting must be white or clear. Seasonal lighting may be colored provided lighting meet all UDC requirements in 11-3A-11, including duration limitations. Bike Racks Bike racks which do not modify streetscape improvements within the public ROW are allowed within a use area. - Bike racks within a use area must meet all general requirements of a city core encroachment certificate and make no modifications to existing streetscape improvements. - For improvements such as bike racks which are permanent and installed within the furnishing zone, see the streetscape Improver?}ents section. Canopies & Awnings Canopies and awnings extending more than 2 feet into the public ROW are allowed through a City Core ROW encroachment certificate provided they meet applicable building code, are reflective and harmonious with existing streetscape or district thematic'designs, and those within the City of Meridian streetscape Design Guidelines and City of Meridian Design Manual. - Any additional permits for modification to an existing structure must be secured prior to issue of certificate. - Canopies and awnings must be entirely supported from the building or outside of public ROW and are not allowed any vertical features connecting to or impacting the streetscape environment. - Canopies and awnings extending into the public ROW must maintain appropriate vision triangles as outlined in 11-3A-3 of the UDC. - Canopies and Awnings extending more than 2 feet into public ROW are prohibited from branding text, images, or other messaging. Hanging signs are permissible provided they be within 2 feet of the ROW and follow applicable sign code in section 11-3D-8 of the UDC. - Canopies and Awnings extending more than 2 feet into the public ROW must not negatively impact or restrict existing street trees. - See streetscape Improvements section for regulation impacting relocation of existing improvements. Page ~ 8 Maintenance All streetscape improvements and amenities within the public ROW must be maintained in good visual appearance and in good working order. Applicants are required to keep their use area clean, free of all trash, and in compliance with all streetscape regulation. - Failure to maintain streetscape improvements and amenities in a use area may result in the certificate being revoked and removal of amenities within ROW by the City, at the owner's expense. Outdoov~ Div~iv~g The intention of these guidelines is to contribute to the overall character of downtown while providing businesses with the opportunity to use public right-of-way for outdoor dining. Dining ~4reas Dining furniture must meet all general furniture requirements and be of similar or complimentary styles to other furniture in a use area. To limit litter, dining areas should refrain from pre-setting eating areas with disposable napkins and utensils place settings. - Supplemental and accent lighting is allowed in dining areas provided it ~7~eet all use area regulation lighting requirements. - Dining area applicants are responsible for and required to comply with all City of Meridian noise regulations including: 6-3-6 and 11-3A-13 of the UDC. Barriers Barriers encompassing outdoor dining areas are visually appealing and help to create identifiable outdoor spaces separate from the normal pedestrian environment. Barriers should be easily visible and appropriately weighted to prohibit easily shifting. Indentations of the barrier are allowed for the access point and planters, but should otherwise run parallel with street edge and use area. - Barriers are required to be freestanding and without any permanent or temporary attachments to permanent structures. - Outdoor dining areas extending more than 3 feet into the public right-of-way are required to make use of a barrier to delineate use areal occupied with outdoor dining amenities. - Barriers must be completely outside of the clear zone which includes all barrier bases, apertures, and all other parts. 1 Outdoor dining areas which serve liquor are required to meet all State of Idaho area delineation requirements for sale and distribution of alcohol. Applicants may need to update existing permits for sale and consumption with outdoor dining. Page ~ 9 - Barriers must be created from durable sectional fencing, constructed of metal (aluminum, iron, etc), have a professional black finish, and be similar in appearance to provided example images. Rope chains, chain link, fabric inserts, and other types of fencing are prohibited. - Barrier rails must be no less than 36" in height and no greater than 48". Post finials and other fencing adornments above the rail line are prohibited. - A single planter meeting barrier height requirements may be incorporated between some or all barrier segments longer than 4 feet or immediately adjacent the building, but both planted material and the planter are required to be completely outside of the clear zone and within the use area. - Other than planters, products and landscape elements not designed and intended for use as a barrier, for example tree trunks, lights, and planters, ire prohibited in lieu of or incorporation into a barrier. - A minimum of one access point is required for any barrier and must be at least 44" in width. Access points should be positioned to reinforce building entrances and be easily accessible for visually and / or physically impaired pedestrians. - Festive, seasonal, and special event decorations and lighting are allowed on barriers as long the barrier remains 50% open or more (see-through) and is not used for specific business identification. Stsreetscape Fuv~v~isl~iv~g Zov~e Regu(atiov~ Newsstands, delivery service drop boxes, and other amenities not associated with an adjacent business or property are allowed within a furnishing zone provided they meet the purpose and applicability of a City Core ROW encroachment certificate. - Where no furnishing zone exists and complete streetscape improvements have not been made, amenities are not permitted. Improvements must first be made. - Where use of the streetscape furnishing zone would otherwise restrict or prohibit business from establishing a use area in front of their business, for example to establish outdoor dining, use of the streetscape furnishing zone for amenities is not allowed with a City Core ROW encroachment certificate. - Proposed amenities such as lights, trees, and planters are required to be spaced 4 feet or more from other existing amenities. Newsstands may be placed adjacent to other newsstands, but are not to exceed three per street block. - Within the street furnishing zone, planters, furniture, and lighting which do not meet City of Meridian Downtown streetscape Design Guidelines are prohibited. Page ~ 10 - Encroachments which necessitate modification of existing improvements within the public ROW (e.g. - to concrete or bricks) to secure encroachments to the streetscape are subject to design review. Sts^eetscape Iw-pv~ovew-ev~ts streetscape improvements are required to comply with the City of Meridian streetscape Design guidelines and with any applicable Development Services improvement standards, streetscape improvements may be installed in full, for one or both sides of the street block, or in segments immediately parallel to and offset from individual property boundaries. - For conditions where applicants propose improvements where there are none, applicants are required to install all improvements per streetscape design and improvement standards for the desired area. This includes sidewalk, pavers, lighting, and trees. Trash receptacles, bike racks, and other amenities within the public ROW are optional provided a property maintains compliance with 11-3C-5 and 11-3C-E of the UDC, specific to bicycles. All installed streetscape improvements must comply with City of Meridian Downtown streetscape Design Guidelines. - In conditions where streetscape improvements are iristailed for partial City blocks, spacing for improvements such as lighting and trees must be considered for`the entire block. If an existing street block plan is on-file with the City for tree and lighting spacing then that plan must be followed, If there is no spacing plan, a street block spacing plan must be included and approved as part of the applicatioh. - No streetscape improvements within the public ROW which deviate from City of Meridian Downtown streetscape Design Guidelines are allowed as part of a City Core ROW encroachment certificate. streetscape Improvement Relocation Existing improvements within the furnishing zone may be adjusted and moved provided that all damage to hardscape and other improvements occurring as a result of relocation is restored concurrently to a like new state. - Relocated improvements are required to be inline with other existing improvements and per downtown streetscape c{esign and improvement standards. - Any modification to existing street lights or trees must be consistent with streetscape design guidelines and spacing. - Mitigation is required for removal of any existing street trees. See mitigation requirements in 11-3B-10 of the UDC for requirements, except that mitigation applies to all trees regardless of existing size and also requires installation of improvements (tree grate and frame, irrigation, etc.) per City of Meridian streetscape Design Guidelines. Page ~ 11 Mri ian iy ouncil etin nnEEriNG NoTEs ~(~~M ~~~'~i"~r 0 Community Item/Presentations Presenter Contact Info./Notes CLERKS OFFICE FINAL ACTION DATE: I E-MSTAFF TOI AGENCYO I APPLICANT I NOTES I INITIALS Deyltiv.afi.ov~ Dow~wfow+ti ~ 11®N. ' 1 ~ 1 111. C "The greater danger for most o f us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."-Michelangelo In cooperation with the Meridian Development Corporation (MDC) and the Mayor's Office, the Planning Department (staff) aggressively spent several months outreaching to members of the downtown community, specifically targeting stakeholders in the Traditional City Core. The intention of this report is to summarize feedback and observations and to identify areas where policy improvement could better facilitate development and re-development in downtown. The greater goal of this process is to address specific action items from the Destination Downtown Vision Plan and to ultimately help the Traditional City .Core be a successful and vibrant center of activity. ack r®un escriin rarnw,~rk The Destination Downtown Vision Plan (the Plan) describes the Traditional City Core (TCC) as the following: The Traditional City Core district capitalizes on the historic heart of the City of Meridian and embraces Main Street and Meridian Road: It is bordered on the south by Broadway and on the nortl~ by Washington & Main district. Tv~aditio~a( City Cove foals Critical to the Traditional City Core .concept are the coals for implementation. The following are goals for the Traditional City Core from'the Destination Downtown Plan. A. 2 - 4 Story lnfill and restoration: encourage infill development in the district and develop vacant and underutilized parcels to complete a consistent street wall along Main Street. B. Traditional Architeefure Themes: Promote the use of traditional architecture themes that conform to the historic character of the downtown. Restore and preserve older buildings and design new structures to fit with the overall character. Permeable facades and traditional two-part block designs are encouraged. C. Continuous Urban Edge: Create a strong street wall by requiring zero lot line development in this district. Ensure that buildings meet the edge of the sidewalk and primary building access is at the public street. D. Vertical & Horizontal Integration of Uses: Emphasize a vertical integration of uses in this district to create a diverse mixed-use atmosphere. Encourage first floor retail and commercial activity to promote pedestrian activity. Utilize deep lots for multi-family residential and a horizontal mix of uses. E. Preserve ®owntown Housing: Encourage the development of live/work units to bring people downtown and to promote local businesses, and ensure 24-7 activity. Preserve and protect remaining single family homes. F. Emphasize Walkability and Activity: Create vibrant sidewalk activity and introduce pedestrian amenities to encourage walking, shopping,. sidewalkdlning, and social interaction. G. ®evelop Civic Uses: Introduce civic uses such as museums, community centers, libraries, schools, and governmental offices into the Traditional City Core district. Maintaining a strong civic element ensures that the downtown area remains the symbolic heart of the City. These high level goals are broad, without specific direction, and do not address-priority, timeline, or responsibility. To help address this, and as part of the Destihation Downtown Vision Plan, an Implementation Plan was created to outline specific action items and methods for accomplishing these goals. Tt~aditioKal City Code Targeted Aetiosls Itevv~s (AI): While the Implementation Plan identified stakeholders, i.e. groups to be involved, it did not assign responsibility of action iteri~s to specific groups. Because MDC is independent from the City, and because private stakeholders.must also°6e involved'ahd participate, it was important to the City that action itemsweredelegated o responsible grou~sin order to maintain organization and accountability. Staff took tiie Implementation Plan and divided the projects into smaller pieces, assigning responsibility of action items to specific groups, and in the City's case, creating City specific timelines and priorities. Staff received buy-off from this modified "action plan" by the Mayor's Office and other Department Neads;,and then from MDC. As part of this process, one of the goals is to address and complete specific action items from the action plan. This process is intended to address or give direction for;the following action items: A. Review and update existing code and regulations to ensure that entertainment and gathering places can be accommodated in the MDC boundary. B. Explore policy initiatives for encouraging residential development within downtown. This may include a review of impact fees, review height restrictions, or financial or regulatory incentives. C. Coordinate all planning efforts for downtown; develop joint planning documents, studies, and tools. Page ~ 2 D. Consider offering flexibility in design standards and regulations for infill development projects that contribute to the overall vision for a vibrant, walkable downtown and meet the general intent of Meridian design standards. E. Create destinations and distinctive districts in downtown to encourage exploration. Identify specific districts in the Meridian Comprehensive Plan. F. Incorporate new goals and objectives into the Comprehensive Plan that specifically address the Old Town core. (See Vision for all the details) Old Towv~ For the Traditional City Core and larger Destination Downtown Vision Plan to succeed, they must be supported and able to work within the City's Future Land Use Map and Zoning designations. The following is the City of Meridian description for the Old Town zoning designation, which is the City's preferred designation for the TCC, from the City of Meridian Unified Development Code (UDC). The purpose of the O-T district is to accommodate and encourage further intensification ofthe historical city center in accord with the Meridian comprehensive plan. The intent of tf~e O-T district is to delineate a centralized activity center and to encourage its renewal,. revitalization and growth as the public, quasi-public,. cultural, financial and recreational center o f the city. Public and quasi-public icses integrated withgeneral business, and medium high to high density residentlaf is encouraged to provide .the appropriate mix'and intensity of activities necessary to establish a truly urban city center. A. Building Height: Maximum building height is seventy five feet (75). (Ord. 05- 11.70; 5-30-2005, elf. 9 15-2005) B. Number Of Stories: Minimum number of stories for new construction is two (2) and/or as set forth in the "City Of Meridian Design Manual". (Ord. 09-1394, 3-3- 2009, eff, retroactive to 2-4-2009) ' C. Additional Height: Additional height exceeding the maximum height allowed requires approv~i through a conditional use permit. (Ord. 05-1170, 8-30-2005, eff. 9-15-2005) D. Streetscape Improvements: Streetscape improvements within the area bounded by Carlton Avenue, East Third Street, Ada Street, and Meridian Road shall be designed in accord with the City of Meridian downtown Streetscape design guidelines. (Ord. 10-1463, 11-3-2010, elf. 11-8-2010) The following description is for the City of Meridian Future Land Use Map designation for Old Town from the City of Meridian Comprehensive Plan, which is the City's intended Land Use designation for the TCC area. Page ~ 3 This designation includes the historic downtown and the true community center. The boundary of the Old Town district predominantly follows Meridian's historic plat boundaries. In several areas, both sides of a street were incorporated into the boundary to encourage similar uses and complimentary design of the facing houses and buildings. Sample uses include offices, retail and lodging, theatres, restaurants, and service retail for surrounding residents and visitors. A variety of residential uses are also envisioned and could include reuse of existing buildings, new construction ofmufti-family residential over ground floor retail or office uses. In order to provide and accommodate preservation of the historic character, the Cityhas developed specific Design Guidelines for this area. Pedestrian amenities are emphasized in Old Town. Public investment that ensures that Old Town becomes a centralized activity center, with public, cultural, and recreational structures are encouraged, and the City's decision to build the new City Hall iri Ofd Town is testament to its commitment to the area. Future planning in Old Towri will be reviewed in accordance with Destination Downtown, a visioriing document for redevelopment in downtown Meridian. Please see the Economic Excellence chapter for more information on Destination Downtown: Due to broad Old Town designations from the UDC and Comprehensive Plan, the Destination Downtown Vision Plan and conversely goals of the Traditional City Core fit well in!ithin the City's land use and zoning designations. Because the Old Town designations of the UDC and Comprehensive Plan are broad, the City's primary regulation tool is the City of Meridian Design Manual. Regulation through the Design Manual allows development more flexibility through site specific design standards. This flexibility also allows the City to permit projects unique to the Downtown area, while continuing to require graality development and ensure protection of property rights for neighboring stakeholders. esign ~a~~al ~®~r~la~ic~n ~® TCC G®als Where many of the other City of Meridian zoning designations have a comprehensive list of permitted uses, property size restrictions [requirements, and setback criteria, the UDC requirements foi~ O-T regulate only the building height and reference streetscape improvement requirements specific to downtowns. As such, the Design Manual is the City's primary tool for specifying development requirements within the Destination Downtown Vision Plan. Section "B. Design Guidelines for Urban Developments" (Urban Developments), of the City of Meridian Design Manual, contains applicable guidelines for the TCC. To better understand how the Design Manual (DM) correlates with goals of the TCC, staff reviewed the Urban Developments section of the DM with the TCC in mind. The following TCC goals were compared to the DM to determine the level of support, indifference, or hindrance. Each goal is listed with a general level of support, applicable DM references, and comments. The full text for guidelines listed below is included in Appendix B. 1 City of Meridian Downtown streetscape Design Guidelines Page ~ 4 A. 2 - 4 Story Infill and Restoration: Encourage infill development in the district and develop vacant and underutilized parcels to complete a consistent street wall along Main Street. a. There is nothing which specifically encourages or discourages infill and restoration in the UDC or Design Manual. b. There is a need to verify whether current building codes or other restrictions would discourage infill and restoration redevelopment. The previous Planning Director, Anna Canning, made a request for this to occur, but there has been no word on whether time and resources would be available for this to happen. c. There is very little incentive for infill and restoration re-development, especially compared to the traditionally lower costs of greet}field development. B. Traditional.4rchitecture Themes: Promote the rise of traditional architecture themes that conform to the historic character of the downtown. Restore and preserve older buildings and design new structures to fit with the overall character. Permeable facades and traditional two-part block designs are encouraged. a. There is nothing which defines "traditional architecture themes° in the Design Manual or UDC. b. There is no definition or description of peri>ieable facades or traditional two-part block designs in the Design Manual or UDC. c. Guideline B-1.1.1.2 in the Design Manual could be interpreted as discouraging traditional architectural theiiies without clarification, There is no definition or establishment of thematic design, and this guideline encourages unique identities. In some aspects, this is the exact opposite in intent, of the goal. d. Architectural accents, Lighting, orsigns should encourage unifying elements in an -area. Not necessarily ail, but some: None of Urban Guidelines in the Design Manual reference adhering o or creating a traditional architecture themes. C. Continuous Urba-i,~dge: Create a strong street wall by requiring zero lot line development in this district. Ensure that buildings meet the edge of the sidewalk and primary. building access is at the public street. a. The term "required" is not inline with Design Manual terminology. b. Guidelines B-1.4:2.1:1., B-1.4.2.1.3., B-1.4.2.2., B-1.4.2.3.2., and B-2.2.2.2, in the Design Manual encourage creating a continuous urban edge and locating primary building access points along public spaces and roadways. D. Vertical & Horizontal Integration of Uses: Emphasize a vertical integration of uses in this district to create a diverse mixed-use atmosphere. Encourage first floor retail and commercial activity to promote pedestrian activity. Utilize deep lots for multi-family residential and a horizontal mix of uses. a. "...deep lots for multi-family residential and a horizontal mix of uses" is both vague and possibly conflicting in the intent. b. Guidelines B-2.1.2.1. and B-2.1.3.5, and the Design Manual encourage vertical integration Page ~ 5 c. Old Town zoning supports this type of development /mix of uses. E. Preserve Downtown Housing: Encourage the development of live/work units to bring people downtown and to promote local businesses, and ensure 24-7 activity. Preserve and protect remaining single family homes. a. There is nothing which encourages or discourages this goal in the UDC or Design Manual. b. There is a need to verify whether anything in building codes or other restrictions would discourage live/work units in Downtown Meridian.. The previous Planning Director, Anna Canning, made a request for this,to occur, but there has been no word on whether time and resources would be available for this to happen. c. There is a possible conflict between this goal and others, specifically redeveloping 2-4 story infill and restoration. Incentives should be careful not to harm one goal by promoting the other. F. Emphasize Walkability and Activity: Create vibrant sidewalk activity and introduce pedestrian amenities to encourage walking; shopping, sidewalk dining, and social interaction. a. This topic is well covered in the Design Manual. Guidelines B-1.3.1.1., B-1.3.3.2., 6- 1.3.3.3.2., B-1.4.2.2., B-1:4.2.3;2„ B-.1.6.1.1., and B-1.7.3.1. all encourage this goal. b. One exception is sidewalk dining. Tiiis is not gerier~lly something that is discussed, but is a topic which can be contentious grid disruptive, but also very popular and valuable to business. Meridian is anrently under negotiations with ACRD to manage right-or way in certain downtown locations to support this. G. Develop Civic Uses: Introduce civic uses such as museums, community centers, libraries, schools and governmentaloffices into. the Traditional City Core district. Maintaining a strong civic element ensures that the downtown area remains the symbolic heart of the City. a. There is nothing which encourages or discourages this in the UDC or Design Manual b. It is unlikely schools would be created within the TCC, as there are two in neighboring districts and the Traditional City Core is relatively small. c. City Hail is not within the TCC district, but is immediately adjacent to it in the Transit Oriented Development district. The new COMPASS and Valley Regional Transit (VRT) building is in the TCC, and the buildings parking lot in the Neighborhood Preservation district. d. The City owns the Community Center building within the TCC, on the corner of Idaho and 2"a e. If additional civic uses are desired, there is likely a need to better encourage museums or other civic spaces within the TCC over areas with greater parking availability and more readily available land. Page ~ 6 The City of Meridian Design Manual is an invaluable resource helping to add flexibility to the planning and design process while ensuring that Meridian residents can expect quality development. Recognizing that there are always areas for improvement, and that not all elements which help to make-up successful "place" may be addressed or considered, staff in coordination with the Mayor's Office and MDC engaged TCC stakeholders to hear their thoughts, opinions, and experiences. utreach The largest component of the City's efforts to address TCC goals end action items involved outreach to stakeholders within the Traditional City Core. In coordination with MDC and the Mayor's Office, staff went door to door to virtually every property within the TCC. For businesses skipped, out of concern that unscheduled visits could potentially impact business or because the stakeholder was felt to likely have a lot of feedback; MDC and staff made all reasonable attempts to schedule individual meetings with business owners. For properties which were not present or chose not to respond, staff left or mailed outreach material which included a questionnaire that could be returned to the City. Finally, staff mailed outreach material and questionnaires to all property owners with mailing addresses that differed. from the address within the. TCC. A similar process is envisioned for the other districts of the Destination Downtown Plan, though the outreach methods may vary depending on the number of stakeholders and property uses. One of the primary reasons for the door to door outreach process was to hear and then address development and operational harriers through changes to City code and policy. These recommended changes are listed in the Next Steps section of his report. While the intention of the City was to receive comments and feedback, the process was also an informal service to stakeholders, answering questions and taking general comments. Dialog with stakeholders was casual, but staff took notes of discussions and integrated them into formal comment sheets. The comment sheet included 5 basic points of topic. Mailed questionnaires were shorter and only included 2 questions. Staff created 38 comment sheets from dialog with stakeholders and received 5 mailed questionnaires. An example comment sheet and questionnaire are included as Appendix D. Cotnnw-ev~t Highlights Of all the discussions and questionnaires, 39 stakeholders had no issues with City policy related to development, and 33 stakeholders had no issues with the City at all. 18 stakeholders had no issues with the City or anyone else, the highest of all topic categories. The most consistent issue expressed were those that are parking related, with 15 stakeholders specifically mentioning it. Table 1: Issue Totals summarizes all categorized issues. Page ~ 7 Table 1: Issue Totals While parking is high respective of other issues, it's important to,clarify that these categories are broad and may relate to other topics or entity responsibilities. Parking management is for example within MDC's responsibilities, but some complaints were specific to safety (lighting), enforcement (both lack of and too much), and there's tiie potential for-~s"ome issues to be related to clarity of signage or design standards. A shortage of employee parking was frequently mentioned, usually from business owners throughout the TCC, but also from residences who felt employees took up the on-street parking in their neighborhoods. A graphic visualizing the locations within the Traditional City Core of stakeholder parking complaints, no complaints, and parking tickets is included as Appendix C. An element of concern voiced key a nur7~ber of stakeholders was that of distinction. There was a fairly consistent concern by business owners of the identity for the TCC, and creating distinct attractions to draw more business: A number of business owners shared a desire to see more boutique type shops and places of business to compliment existing business. A few business owners even suggested that some. overlap of service and goods offerings would be okay as it would draw more people into the downtown area, to the benefit of everyone. There was also a concern of identity related to the Ten Mile Specific Area Plan and the Eagle Road corridor, and whether the Downtown could offer anything different or unique to compete with new development such as the Meridian Crossing. Page ~ 8 Also common were complaints specific to fees. Discussion of fees almost always evolved into stakeholders describing ACHD charging excessive impact fees, but there was also a general lack of understanding over how fees were calculated and spent. There were also a number of complaints specific to sign fees and sign restrictions for business, enforced by the City. Every complaint specific to signs was however from experiences prior to an overhaul of the sign permitting process. There was an easing of restrictions with specific exceptions and allowances for the Downtown area, so it is unclear whether these same stakeholders would consider there to be an issue today. Lastly, it was mentioned on a number of occasions that start-up fees in general from all agencies were particularly burdensome for small business. One stakeholder mentioned that their long-time business was nothing more than a hobby during the current recession, and that for new business, fees in general made it difficult to establish. There were several requests to find ways to better support new business during the first year or during particularly difficult times, such as with extended road construction and re-routing,of traffic. Outv~eaek Obsewatiov~s While parking appears to be an issue for a large. number of stakeholders, it was not necessarily the most important issue, or even the most discussed. In fact, a,number of parking issues were actually good neighbor issues, with stakeholders and their employees regularly parking on private property without permission, or stakeholders refusing to let neighbors use parking spaces otherwise unused. This trend also extends to public parking; with employees of local businesses illegally using short-term parking long-term, and disregarding the need for neighbors to accommodate short-term client parking. This good neighbor issue carried into other topics as well Stakeholders'mentioned business owners at odds during previous downtown business. groups, ultimately falling apart. There is also conflict over events held in the TCC. A number of stakeholders indicated that they did not want events to occur downtown at all, or they want therm to occur at other times and locations with lessened benefits, because the events presented increased parking challenges or held no benefit to the~ii. Most stakeholdeis however indicated that they wanted to see events and attractions occur in the downtown area .and that they are important to their business. Perhaps it is due to stakeholders own un-involvement, or due to lack of outreach by organizers and supporters, but a number of stakeholders are generally unaware. or misinformed of the pros and cons, restrictions, and understanding of why ultimately certain decisions are made. Specific Recow~w~endatioc~s Due to business focus, location, and general vision of downtown, there were greatly differing opinions over several points of discussion related to the TCC. Combined with a variety of personalities and other view points, finding opportunities to improve Downtown without upsetting certain groups of stakeholders will be a challenge. Recognizing this, a number of stakeholders suggested making use of a hired part-time organizer for any new downtown business group, to help mediate, encourage communication, and find common ground for improvement. Page ~ 9 Suggestions to improve parking varied from creating a new garage, reducing parallel parking and creating more angled parking, and to simply revisiting the parking plan. A few stakeholders felt that there was more limited duration parking than necessary in some areas and that converting some of that to non-limited parking spaces, for example along the south side of Broadway, would help with owner and employee parking. There was also concern that the City's relaxed parking requirements and in-lieu fees could ultimately create more parking issues, without actually adding additional public parking, and that it should be reconsidered. Lastly, there were a few complaints from residents along Carlton Ave specific to employees of neighboring businesses occupying all of the on-street parking. One recurring suggestion among stakeholders for the TCC was reintroducing large holiday and special City events to the downtown core. A number of long-time residents and business owners reminisced about past events held downtown, such as the Scarecrow festival, and expressed a desire to see them return. These same stakeholders generally indicated that events currently held at Storey Park, were not downtown. Another suggestion related to downtown events was that of branding and creating a unique Meridian atmosphere. It was suggested that large events organized by the City or Chamber of Commerce should be branded ire a "rural agricultural" form, with event branding and signage that make use of large banners that hang across streets and drape down buildings. There were not a lot of suggestions for the. City specific to improving the development process and promoting development in the downtown area, but there were a few. These suggestions are not all necessarily within the City or partner agencies legal abilities, nor are they necessarily within the City's best interest as a whole, but there may be value in their intent and should be considered. ® Waive or reduce fee for pro~~erties desiring to rezone a property within the vision of the Future Land Use Map; ® Reduce or eliminate permitting fees inthe downtown area. ® Improve blight properties and buildings as they are harmful to downtown character and a disi~icentive to downtown development. ® More cleanly convey the development process. This includes the role of all other agencies and groups involved in tfie process. ® Create tax incentives or '`breaks" from fees such as water/sewer for first year businesses, to help them establish. ® Increase impact fees for fringe /periphery development or conversely better incentivize core development, ® Improve corridors into downtown to create more draw and interest, such as along Pine Ave from Eagle Road. ® Create pedestrian focused environment centered around N East 2"d street. Page ~ 10 Many of these suggestions are incorporated as recommendations for further investigation in the Next Steps section of this report. Next Steps Out of this process staff found a variety of areas which can be improved upon. Some of these can happen now with simple policy revisions, some can be improved upon over time, and others may require additional investigation. Suggestions are grouped into three categories: Comprehensive Plan Action Items Design Manual & Other Policy Changes Recommendations for Others. Comprehensive Plan recommendations are generally intended to be exploratory suggestions for the City to address known issues. Design Manual & Policy changes are intended to address specific goals and clarify terminology references in the Destination Downtown Vision Plan. Lastly, Recommendations for Others are generally suggestions for MDC to help improve coordination with the City, ensure MDC documents use terminology consistent with City documents, and offer ideas for stimulating development vVhich may not be as appropriate for the City to initiate. Cow-pv~etieslsive Plav- Reeow-w-ev~datiov~s The following action items are recommended additions. to the City of Meridian Comprehensive Plan. These action items are intended to help promote developr~ier~t wr"thin the TCC, directly or through improved agency communication. The TCC-Goal column refers to action items addressing specific goals of the district. - T. o ~ ~~ - Consider fee cor~svlidation of pern~it~, utility waivers or deferment, and other incentives for live/work units in downtown. Provide outreach material highlighting the All Medium A, E benefits of live-work such as no rent, business write offs, no commutes, easy downtown access,'etc. Negotiate the turn over of ROW control from ACHD to the City in the Traditional City Core. Provide business friendly Planning Highest C, F use permits for events and outdoor dining. Establish City of Meridian Community Center on the corner of Idaho Ave and N East 2"d Street as cornerstone of the Traditional City Core. Consider facade and streetscape Parks Low F, G improvements of structure, and promote pedestrian friendly environment. Page ~ 11 I ~ / / / ~ ~ / / ~ / / / Assist first year new businesses in downtown that are within the vision of Destination Downtown by proactively engaging stakeholders with incentives. Consider fee and All Short - utility reductions or payment deferments. Consider waving, reducing, or deferring rezone fees for properties seeking to redevelop in Downtown within the Planning Medium - vision of the Destination Downtown Vision Plan. Consider options for advancing the timeline of Pine Ave corridor improvements into Downtown. Consider economic ' benefits, improved pedestrian and bicycle connections, acid All Medium - the benefits of improved public perception of the downtown area. Review UDC sign requirements and ACHD policy o implement sign branding program for City and partner agencies to provide additional allowances for event ' Planning Medium - banners, signage, and flags during community events. The following action items are not specific to the TCC. These action items are intended to improve customer service and address complaints during outreach efforts. ~. x~~:, ~,.. ~ ,,_. "~~ . ~ . Consider implementing additionaltools to graphically convey developnietit and permitting processes to All Medium - applicantsand potentialapplicai~ts. Continue to improve internal departmental and inter- agency communication. Reduce hurnber of service call transfers that customers go through to arrive at needed All High - destination. Consider working with ACFID to help justify and explain ACRD impact fees to customers. Customers can typically see how other fees are used foi~ staff time, resources, and infrastructure. ACHD Impact fees are typically much more costly, and generally do not have any direct (immediate) Planning Medium - correlation to customer projects. Consider opportunities for graphic explanations of the costly nature of road maintenance, upkeep, and expansion, rather than formula explanations. Page ~ 12 Desigv~ Mav~ual & Policy Ctiav~ges The following are suggested changes to the City of Meridian Design Manual or other policy documents. These changes are generally intended to address specific goals of the Traditional City Core and ensure that the vision within Destination Downtown, is supported by City policy. The Destination Downtown goals specific to the TCC are listed in the Background Description & Framework section of this report. The TCC Goal column refers to DM changes addressing specific goals of the district. This includes the area of the "Downtown Core" that extends from Carlton Avenue on the north, Meridian ' Road on the west, Broadway Street on the south and Third Street on the east. These guidelines are also meant for establishing new urban environments throughout the pg 25, 2iid Revision C City as designated in the Comprehensive Plan and Paragraph specific area plans. Projects within the "Downtown Core" should also comply with the City of Meridian Downtown Streetscape Design Guidelines. ~ Individual developments, regardless of size, are encouraged to create their own identity and character; but should use the Design Manual and incorporate ~ unifying thematic elements of the district or area to 8,1.1.1.2 Revision B ensure that the development estah(ishes a cori~patible contribution to the anticipated urban'environment~ Where appropriate, consider the materia(ar~d colors of neighboring construction and ir~te~rate coriip{irilentary B-2.5.2.2.6 New B desic~ri elements. Consider lic~liting elements that reflect district thematic designs to create or continue an identifiable theme. B-2 6.3.1.4 New B Consider signs, awnings, and banners that reflect district thematic designs and continue an identifiable theme. B-2.6.3.2.7 New B Recotnnw-ec~datiov~s Fov' Otkev~s Page ~ 13 The following are suggestions for other groups such as MDC: .-,. rs_.~. ~,, . .._ ~~. ~,. ~,~,~ -_ z,_ w~~ ,~, , ~„~~_ _ ~ , ® - - ~ . .. . Consider clarification of Traditional City Core goal, "Traditional Architecture Themes" from the Destination Downtown Plan to use terminology consistent with the City of Meridian Unified Development MDC City Code and City of Meridian Design Manual. Consider clarification of Traditional City Core goal, "Vertical & Horizontal Integration of Uses" from the Destination Downtown Plan to use terminology consistent with the City of Meridian Unified MDC City Development Code and City of Meridian Design Manual In conjunction with land bank initiatives, consider low interest loans to developers for vacant or distressed property acquisition within the MDC NA Traditional City Core. Consider options for improving appearance of blighted and distressed properties in the TCC. This might include organizing citizens group to ', I do basic maintenance, evaluating willingness of neighbors to `<',MDC City collectively pay for cleanup, and exploring options to require bank owned properties to be maintained. Help initiate a downtown business owriei-s group with emphasis on strengthening communication among business owners and MDC; end with finding workable solutions to the benefit of all stakeholders. MDC Citizens Consider partially funding part-time organizer~and askinginferested ~r business owners to contribute yearly fee. Consider a review and update to th'e City of Meridian Downtown StreetscapeDesign Guidelines. Clarify flexibility of spacing for light fixtures and trees to avoid blocf<ing building entryways and business signage: Ensure that selected tree species are appropriate for mixed pedestrian and vehicular use areas and.that tree canopies for adult MDC City /ACRD sized trees do not impeded vehicular lines of sight, especially at street corners and pedestrian crossings. Require root barrier along constructed surfaces and consider subsurface irrigation for trees to reduce root damage to sidewalks. Consider more regular check-ins, discussions, and coordination with department heads and involved action items, and to track progress. Ensure that there is no competition or conflict between groups trying MDC City to address similar or identical action items from different areas of the implementation plan. To improve stakeholder faith and encourage cooperation, especially among long-time residents and business owners, consider setting very specific objectives and firm timelines for projects with stakeholder MDC NA involvement. Show them results based on their efforts. Page ~ 14 s - . ~.,~w-- _ - Consider revising or creating a new parking plan. Consider employee, customer, delivery, and concerns from nearby residents. Ensure adequate safety exists at public parking areas including provision of lighting and safety of walkways. Work with and educate business MDC City owners to identify suitable parking locations for employees and ensure adequate temporary parking for sales oriented business. Work with the City to propose changes to code and policy conflicts. Su~nntnnav'y of Actiov~ Itew-s av-d Recow~w-esldatiovts The following are action items from the Destination Downtown Implementation Plan which this report addresses, along with an indication of progress j status. A. Review and update existing code ahd regulations to ensure that entertainment and gathering places can be accommodated in the MDC boundary. a. City of Meridian and MDC guidelines already do'a fair job of supporting entertainment and gathering places. There are several parks and p{azas within the TCC, and there have been a number of markets and events successfully held downtown. b. After the`City,takes over management of ACHD right-of-way in the downtown Core; there will be even greater ability to encocnage social gatherings. c. Recommended greater support and ina~eased'branding efforts for downtown events, such as allowance for across street banners, to help to increase awareness and_ appeal: B.' Explore policy i~aitiatives for encouraging residential development within downtown. This may include a review of impact fees, review height restrictions, or finaneiaL or regulatory incentives. a. There are numerous proposed additions to the City of Meridian Comprehensive Plan to address this action item. There are also suggestions for MDC to promote this in ways which would not be as appropriate for the City. C. Coordinate all planning efforts for downtown; develop joint planning documents, studies, and tools. There are proposed clarifications to the City of Meridian Design Manual and suggestions to MDC for their Streetscape Guidelines, to better convey intent and use compatible terminology. b. There is a recommendation to MDC, since Destination Downtown is their plan, to consider more frequent check-ins and discussion with partners. Page ~ 15 D. Consider offering flexibility in design standards and regulations for infill development projects that contribute to the overall vision for a vibrant, walkable downtown and meet the general intent of Meridian design standards. a. There are numerous proposed additions to the City of Meridian Comprehensive Plan to address this action item. There are also suggestions for MDC to promote this in ways which would not be as appropriate for the City. Create destinations and distinctive districts in downtown to encourage exploration. Identify specific districts in the Meridian Comprehensive Plan. a. This and future reports for other districts serve in part as the City's contribution to creating distinctive districts in Destination Downtown. Future efforts will include a review of the Design Manual to better promote this, but the City feels it's up to MDC to push for branding efforts, and be supported by the City. Incorporate new goals and objectives into the Comprehensive Plan that speci fically address the Old Town core. (See Vision for all the details) a. The proposed Comprehensive Plan action items in this report, under Next Steps, serve as the completion of this Action Item:- Ot1C~USlOfI Downtown Meridian and the Traditional City Core specifically have a lot working for it. Littered with old buildings and properties ors the historic l-egistrar, old town has character, charm, and history. Street blocks are small t© encourage walking,`it's seen numerous streetscape enhancements and transportation improvements, and continues to. With Meridian City Hall, Valley Regional Transit, COMPASS, Scentsy, PKG, and many others nearby (or soon will be), there is a great employment base of people to attract. Residents, who may not always agree, really do have the best interest of the TCC in mind; and if feedback from this process is to be any indication are willing to sit down and make things happen. Old Town is not only in the heart of Meridian, it's literally situated iri the heart of Idaho's largest population center (Boise City-Nampa metro region). With easy access from the interstate, close proximity to large arterial roadways, and numerous planned pedestrian and tricycle improvements planned for the area, there is no excuse not to see fantastic improvements. Issues facing the TCC are many, but compared to benefits working for it, are small and minor in scope. Parking, branding, development incentives, and improving communication between stakeholders and partner agencies are some of the challenges facing the TCC, but nothing that can't be resolved. Page ~ 16 ity ®f Meridian ®curnent References City of Meridian Comprehensive Plan http:/Cwww.meridiancity.or /q compplanl City of Meridian Design Manual http://www.mer'rdiancity.org~plannina.aspx?id=230 City of Meridian Unified Development Code httpa/www.sterlinc~eodifiers.camleodebook/index.php?baok ici306 City of Meridian Downtown Streetscape Design Guidelines http://www.meridiandevelopmentcorp.com/ Page ~ 17 Appendix A Applicable Desigv~ Mav~ual (pM) Guideliv-es The following are urban design guidelines which support or conflict with goal s of the Tradit ional City Core • ~ , ~. .~. .. - s31, w. _ ~ ~.. r_ ~, . _, , -~ . _ r Individual developments, regardless of size, are encouraged Conflict F B-1.1.1.2 to create their own identity and character; but should use (potential) the Design Manual to ensure that .the development establishes a compatible contribution to the anticipated' urban environment. Multiple modes of transportation are essential throughout Support F B-1.3.1.1, the urban environment; however, development should emphasize pedestrian motjility, connectivity, and access to transit facilities. Provide pedestrian connections that establish contiguous Support F B-1.3.3.2. pedestrian networks.throughoutthe urban environmer#~ Provide adequate pedestrian connections from adjacent Support F B-1.3.3.3.2. i .public spaces that allow convenient; direct access to transit ~ facilities Place building facades at or close to the build-to-lines Support C B-1.4.2.1.1.. ` (property lines .and/or sethacks as appropriate in the zoning `district and/or streetscape`standards) to provide street walls as elements of the urban form. Where appropriate, extend building facades to interior lot Support C B-1.4.2.1.3, lines (and rear setbacks on alleys) to establish a continuous street wall alohg'block lengths. Primary building entries for ground level and upper story Support C, F B-1.4.2.2, uses should be oriented to provide access from adjacent roadways and public spaces. Secondary and alternative entries may access buildings and uses from parking areas, parking structures, and other areas with available access to the public. Page ~ 18 ® ~ ~ h -.:-•xia ..: ~ h -ate .. F9 ~ ~. _ '.. _ ^~ . 4r _ _ -- / / . . . c .:.. u ~..., . Frameurban and public spaces with building facades, ...,,, Support - C, F B-1.4.2.3.2. enhanced streetscapes, or other appropriate enhancements that create a sense of enclosure and delineate space for the intended activities. The majority of public and open space in urban Support F B-1.6.1.1. environments will consist of streetscapes and public sidewalks; however, the City encourages development to take advantage of opportunities to integrate additional public and open spaces that enhance the character and pedestrian experience of urban envh-oni~ents. Integrate streetscape profiles.along roadways and biocksto Support F B-1.7.3.1. maintain the continuity of the urban environment. Use streetscape profiles consisting of the'following three zones: the landscape and furnishing zone, thee. pedestrian mobility zone, and the frontage zone. To promote vertically integrated building designs that Support D B-2.1.2.1. incorporate enduring architectural characteristics to create and visually enhance an appropriate and timeless urban environment. Design vertically integrated structures that generally locate Support D B-2.1.3,4. ' active uses at or'near ground level adjacent to roadways, pedestrian environments, and p~iblic spaces. Use building design and architecture to promote mixed use Support D B-2.1.3.5, and denser developments as aesthetically pleasing elements of urban environr7~ents. Building designs should provide a building scale of two or Support C 8-2.2.2.2• more stories at-least 35 feet in height along roadways to encourage an urk~an character with contiguous street walls. Applicable UDC codes Sign related policy: Title 11, Chapter 3, Article D of the UDC details sign requirements. The following are regulation specific to O-T (and TN-C) zoning. Subdivision Signs in O-T: 11-3D-5D Business Signs in O-T: 11-3D-8G Page ~ 19 Page ~ 20 Appendix Destinatiov~ powv-tow~ Actiosl ltew~s (Planv~iv~g) The Following Action Items are based upon the Destination Downtown Plan, are those the Planning Department accepted responsibility for, and are marked as uncompleted (though they may in actuality be addressed). The original and complete list breaking down all departments, commissions, and MDC responsibilities, as well as those completed, was generated from the Destination Downtown Implementation Plan. Highlighted Action Items are those considered to be addressed in this report, but does not necessarily indicate completion. i w~ ~ .~, ..~_:~.r. - __ Develop transition plan for construction period of Phase II. [added by 'High Low ABC for TdW] Review and update existing code and regulations to ensure that entertainment and gathering places can be accommodated in the Medium High MDC boundary. ~ Devise a plan to design acid integrate a sports facility and supporting High High businesses into the existing downtown fabric. Identify brown fields or under-utilized parcels that can be developed Medium Low into neighborhood and pocket parks as part of the green system. Adopt policies to provide incentives to developers for park and open space development as part of downtown projects. Require minimum Medium Low community and natural open spice set-asides. Offer density increases for open and,park space development. Identify downtown properties with development or redevelopment potential for housing and develop a downtown housing strategy that High Low addresses student, executive, artist, empty-nester, and other housing niches. Ensure the downtown is a mixed-use area, and minimize negative impacts to housing from competing land uses. Protections may include noise ordinances, specific landscaping and screening requirements, Medium Low and dust and odor mitigation strategies. Explore policy initiatives for encouraging residential development within downtown. This may include a review of impact fees, review ~ Medium Low height restrictions, or financial or regulatory incentives. i Page ~ 21 .~~,.~-- - _ ~,.. ~ ~r_~ ~ _ N. ~-,~; ~ . ,~ ~~ ~. s _, ~ ,~ . -~, ,. _> >_~ ~ - ~~ ~ .~ ~ . _ r® ~ 7t ~ ., r, u ~ ., p I / . Y._ Work with downtown developers to ensure a portion of the total residential units are affordable and facilitate applications for federal assistance, being careful not to inadvertently discourage private Low Low development with affordable housing requirements. Explore opportunities for the City of Meridian and the MDC to jointly develop affordable housing if private development is lagging. Low Low Apply for and develop plans for using federal grant moneys foi~ increasing housing quality and affordability in downtown (Community Development Block Grants, HOME Investment Partnership Program, Low Low Self-help Homeownership Opportunity Program; etc:) _._.....---..... ___ ............._......___.....~_ ... _..__ ___...- --- ._, ._ _...----_ _- - -- ___. _..... _... -- ~--._..._ ...__ __... ..__.....__. ....___ _ ---..... __._...._.. Identify downtown properties with development or redevelopment I potential for locating the performing arts center. .High Low Develop a downtown bicycle plan that identifies opportunities for ' expanding bicycle use in Meridian. (see`Vision for details) Medium Low Coordinate with ACHD and other stakeholders to update policies, plans, and standards as necessary, to accotiiinodate multiple modes of Ongoing High transportation and flexibility in the function of streets. Develop a transit facility plan identifying priorities and recommendations for ir~~pi~ovements, such as benches, weather Medium High shelters, bicycle lockers or storage, shade trees, trash receptacles, etc., [see funding M1.3] Ensure pai-king lots are not uncomfortably expansive, and if necessary, divided large parking areas into smaller areasthrough the use of Medium High landscaping or other visual elements. Require all parking areas to incl~ide dedicated pedestrian pathways to increase access and safety. [note; safe passage for shops] Medium High Initiate a dialogue with ACHD to explore opportunities for increased collaboration in planning for downtown Meridian. (See Vision for Ongoing Low more) Work with City design guidelines to identify appropriate locations and styles for signs directing visitors to retail and dining opportunities on Low Low downtown side streets. Page ~ 22 ®e :: -- ~`u: ~ - - ,=,.:,.,..:~......, , G .,~-.-,,~ ~' f;.'a :.rte. ~ ~~ s~,_... -- Review existing City sign ordinances to ensure pedestrian oriented signage is allowed and encouraged in downtown. (See Vision for High Low more) Review zoning and development regulations governing the lands south of the railroad tracks...to determine areas in need of up updating Medium Non- or revision to encourage additional housing, retail, office, and mixed- priority use development. [note: include industrial] Work with ACHD to ensure streets in this area are designed to be Medium Non- pedestrian friendly and accessible by multiple mods of transportation. Priority Conduct an inventory to determine prime areas for redevelopment i High Non- with fragmented ownership and potential and assembly issues. ~ Priority Create destinations and distinctive districts in downtown to encourage i j exploration. Identify specific districts in the Meridian Comprehensive ~ High High Plan. Utilize different signage, lighting, benches end furnisfiings, landscaping High High to differentiate between districts. Consider the development of different design standards for different districts to regulate building heights and setbacks, or encouraging a Medium High specific style or material choice for structures. Review existing City and MDC plans and guiding documents and identify commonalities to build upon; and discrepancies or differences Highest Low to adjust and standardize. _____. I Coordinate all planning efforts for downtown; develop joint planning ~ r High Low documents, studies, and tools. Consider setting maximum turf coverage limits for Urban/Suburban Non- developments to reduce water rise, priority Low Consider establishing incentives for the adaptive reuse of existing Medium Low structures within the downtown area. (See Vision for more) Conduct an inventory and Identify potential sites for infill development High Low within the downtown core. (See Vision for more) Page ~ 23 Consider offering flexibility in design standards and regulations for ~ infill development projects that contribute to the overall vision fora vibrant, walkable downtown and meet the general intent of Meridian Medium ~ Low design standards. I i Provide incentives to developers to encourage infill projects and rehabilitation of viable structures over large-scale demolition or new Medium greenfield development. (See Vision for more) Incorporate new goals and objectives into the Comprehensive Plan that specifically address the Old Town core. (See Vision for all the ~ High details) Low None Page ~ 24 Appendix Pas^kiv~g Tickets avid Cow-w-ev~ts The following graphic depicts locations of parking tickets, parking complaints during outreach, and stakeholders with no complaints within the Traditional City Core. Parking tickets occurred between January 1, 2011 and July 13, 2011. Locations are approximate to limit overlap. E CARLTON AVE I Legend I ~ .. ,~ ~, i ; _ H... ___- , .._ ~ Parking Complaint y ~ No Complaint ~ Parking Ticket Z T -._~ __- ._ _._ _ _... .. _.__ _ ~ ESTATE AVE Z E PINE AVE ~ E IDAHO AVE " ~ u~i © ~v~i p D N M ~ W II ~ ~ Z Z I E BROAD{fllAY AVE I ~ -T_ ~ . _ __ ~~_ Page (25 Appendix Cowtwtev~t sheets avid Questiov~nairres ~4~ Des'i'~"1'~- ®~"W'w~'a'w'`'~ Check ali that apply f ~i IS .~ rr,' ~ e a~ Business lJ ~1'c~~~_ILII=, ~(". LiUi.~u ~`~~~•l'~~ir ~_.~'l~J (~ Residence: °`vi1 "Thegreaterclangerfornrostofusliesnotinsettingortrainstookigkand J falling short; but in setting our aim too loiv, and achieving our mark. " Property Owner: ~ -Michelangelo 81I~~i~II~~f The City seeks to partner with Downtown Meridian stakeholders to better support and prorrmte the Destination Downtown Vision Plan. To help accomplish this, the City would like to better understand how Meridian code and policy impact stake- holders, and make adjustments which help to promote the long-term health of Meridian's downtown. Please complete this questionnaire and mail it, or send a-mail to bmcclure@meridiancity.org Do you have any issues with or suggestions for the ic4nprovev~ent of Meridian code or policy, to help Hnake the Destination Downtown Vision Plan a reality? Do you have any general suggestions for the City, Meridian Developvnent Corporation, or ACRD to ivvtprove Downtown Meridian? Contact Information Name: So that we may contact you E-mail /Phone: with additional questions or for clarification, please provide your contact Information (optional). Property AddYess: m Planning Department, 33 E Broadway Ave, Sufte 210, t`leridian 1D 83642 - Page ~ 26 Summary of Stakeholder Comments -Page Y y=,--•-- ®ES~"t~t^,Lt'f t,0'E~- ®a-Iv1r~ Check all that apPIY r _ aF, o - i , ,~ Business; Residence: '~ "' °~ "Thegreaterdangerformostofusliesnotinsettingouraimtoohighand falling short; bttt in setting our aim too 1011; and achieving otn• malk. " Property Owner; -Michelangelo Narne: business Narne: E-mail /Phone: Property Address: Have you had anyexperiences with the City which were difficult to overcome and work through, because either code or policy made it difficult to accomplish your goal? n If so, do you feel the City was trying to act in the best interest of the general public or because of liability concerns? n Could the issue(s) have been avoided with better communication and / or better education? What would have helped avoid the problem? Planning Department, 33 E Broadway Ave, Sufte 210,1.1eridian ID 83642 Page ~ 27 Summary of Stal~eholder Comments -Page 2 Do you have any suggestions for ways in which the City could make it easier to develop, redevelop, operate a business, or promote higher quality of place in Downtown, by adjusting code or policy? As good stewards of the public trust, do you have any suggestions for ways In which the Ci#y could incentivize development and redevelopment in Downtown Meridian? Do you have any general comments or suggestions for the City as it applies to Destination Downtown? Would you be interested in a faSade improvement program? E I IAN.,;,;. n -lanning Department, 33 E 6madway Ave, Suite 210, Ideddien ID II3642 Page ~ 28 Mri ian ity until eetin 1° : RI®vember 29, 2011 IT NU 15 CLERKS oFF~cE FiNac. acr~oN DATE: I E-MSTAFF TOI AGENCYO I APPL CANT I NOTES I INITIALS