City Council

City Council Work Session 5:30 PM Council Chambers September 16, 2019 ATTENDANCE: Mayor/Council (please check) Cole, Cromley, Yakawich, Neese, Ewalt, Joy, Friedel, Gibbs, Ronning, Clark, Brown CM excused: ALL COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT ADJOURN TIME: 7:17 pm Agenda TOPIC #1 Inner Belt Loop Corridor Study PRESENTERS Chris Kukulski, City Administrator Wyeth Friday, Planning & Community Services Director DJ Clark, Senior Engineer at Sanderson Stewart NOTES/OUTCOME  Meeting called to order at 5:30 PM.  Kukulski: Tour scheduled on Oct 7th from the Senior Center. Focus on public safety levy – would like to do a tour ahead of that – EBURD wanted to give the District a tour. Meet half hour early to get on bus at Senior Center and return. Meet time of 4:30 offered and agreed upon to start tour pending CM schedule approval. Centennial Park project budget clarified: Total revenue total $2.7 million: $2 million from general fund, $460,000 from cash in lieu, $80,000 in donations for dog park, and $176,000 from PD1 to do parking lot and restrooms totals $2.716 million. To date spent $695,000. No indication project will be overbudget. Current budget includes $3 million in road projects 19th/20th along Monad. Engineering staff determined those projects with other improvements can get stretched out another decade. Take CIP and other projects (the intersection at 38th and King, improvements on Wicks Lane, improvements on Songbird, flashing beacons on the roundabouts on Shiloh and pedestrian crossing improvements with beacons around variety) might be more timely than for FY19/20. Budget includes reconstruction of website. Encouraged public to fill out the survey on the website.  Friday: Provides background information. Placed in Unified Planning Work program the year before with overlap of 2 fiscal years; in CIP in 2 different phases. Federal BUILD grant earlier. Corridor study to figure out issues. April: project oversight committee meeting regularly with Sanderson Stewart – Heights to Zimmerman Trail. 1  Clark: Work completed to date: traffic data collection & analysis; property owner meetings; public works coordination; misc stakeholder meetings; land development feasibility analysis; project oversight committee meetings. (slides shown): Public Utilities – existing water system: discussion with property owners. Once road is in place, those property owners would like to have ability for sewer/water. There are multiple places to connect. With topography and elevation, there are multiple pressure zones meaning additional infrastructure is needed to maintain water pressure, which means more expense. If there is a water main and no users there is a maintenance issue (would need to be flush periodically). On sewer side of things, only realistic option is to come from Alkali Creek Road from the SE. Farther west would need to pump. Rehberg Ranch has its own system. Private utility providers: mixture of public and private investment; other than funding, no major hurdles; service jurisdiction TBD in some cases. Met with Fire Department (FD) and Police Department (PD): FD: 2020 mil levy proposal – 2 new fire stations proposed; evaluation of additional fire station in airport area. 4-minute response time national standard is the goal. Master plan adds extra FD near Hwy 3 – more 4-minute response capability. PD: Max of 4 (usually 2) officers patrolling the Heights area at any one time. The mil levy would benefit BPD as it needs more manpower. Discussed strategic co-location with fire stations. Land Development Potential: Map showing topography showing developable areas. Around 2000 acres of property directly adjacent to corridor available. Approximate potential of 3000-7000 new homes; including 1000 homes in Rehberg Ranch/Skyview Ridge subdivisions, approximately 16,000-17,000 people long term living up there. Summary of Key Considerations: Balance of traffic-related impacts – pluses and minuses Sewer/water infrastructure challenges/costs Emergency services provisions – 2020 mil levy and beyond Urgency to develop property seems to be relatively low BUILD Grant application selection in December will affect timing Next steps: Additional technical analysis: land development feasibility; traffic projections; future conditions traffic operations analysis; access control; stormwater/drainage analysis Vision development/draft report Public meeting #1 (mid-to-late October) Draft report (late 2019) Public meeting #2 (January 2020) 2  Final report (first quarter 2020)  Gibbs: Question regarding what kind of water storage needed (tank, tower, etc) and cost.  Clark: Confirms probably a combination of tanks and towers to get pressure/relieve pressure. Cost of sewer/water for the entire corridor $30-40 million.  Ronning: Concern for additional traffic on 32nd which is at or over capacity now and how we can ensure another problem is not created. Possible to consider a fire station in the Heights at the airport?  Clark: Part of ongoing discussion/research.  Friedel: Possibility if the FS is on Hwy 3 that it could service the east part of the loop too.  Kukulski: There is no property location yet. Part of ongoing discussion.  Neese: Question of public work cost: will it be over a number of years and at developer cost, not City cost, and not all upfront?  Clark: It is an issue of timing, but ideally yes to both.  Kukulski: Usually developers would build the road along with water/sewer but that will not happen in this case with the road so we need to be conscientious with water/sewer. City cannot prevent development on this public road but can control/limit access.  Neese: Requested a pressure zone comparison to west end.  Clark: Rehberg Ranch subdivision now crosses pressure zones at both ends. There are occasionally some issues to account for the differences. It can be mitigated, just expensive.  Mayor: Is it possible to build the road since it’s needed now without infrastructure like water and then county will later develop?  Clark: Property owners mentioned if sewer/water not available, at some point they would strongly consider developing in the county. Understanding is that you cannot have a commercial business off a well.  Friedel: How much of available property would be feasible for county development?  Clark: (shows slide) Anything in color on the graph/map. Only issue is lot size to meet requirements for septic/drain fields.  Kukulski: There are higher-end residential developments with cisterns in Billings currently.  Joy: How will congestion be mitigated from Main Street? What’s deficient in the Heights for shopping, entertainment that we would need an Inner Belt Loop?  Clark: Haven’t been able to zero in on specifics, but not just shopping/ entertainment; also medical, work, etc.  Discussion about commercial business, traffic models/projection, concerns for those issues at the base of the Rims.  Ewalt: Has City secured all right-of-way agreements with landowners? How much is across state land?  Clark: There is a fair bit of school trust land that the Inner Belt Loop crosses. 3   Friday: For BUILD grant application, there are secured letters from all landowners for entire alignment stating they’d provide right-of-way.  Kukulski: State land development between Castle Rock and Eagle Cliffs is an added complexity, but they are open to sale and/or trade. Letters of intent have been obtained but not actual easement.  Mayor: Is there landowner concerns with public access?  Brent Brooks: Will re-forward the email he sent a few months ago regarding that.  Mayor: What are the options for paying $30-40 million? System development fees? Create SID for landowners? Private development agreement? Regional impact fees?  Friday: The biggest key is a phased approach with a variety of funding.  Mayor: Can commercial business be developed without city sewer/water?  Friday: You can, but you are limited by what commercial business demands would be. Smaller business would be sustainable but not something bigger like a Target.  Kukulski: A late-comer agreement is an option to ultimately get reimbursed for some portion of investments.  Public Comment:  Jennifer Owen, 906 Royal Avenue, Billings, Montana (POC committee member): Addresses critical safety factors and community unification with need for Inner Belt Loop to move forward.  Larry Brewster, 1216 Babcock, Billings, Montana: Spoke about history of past plans to develop north of airport and encouraged continued plans. Spoke about concerns for funding sources in the past as a former CM.  Pam Ellis, 2000 Outlook Drive, Billings, Montana: On Heights taskforce: Encourage CM to continue with plans to build road.  Ming Cabrera: 1734 Poly, Billings, Montana: Encouraged CM to continue with building of road to unify city although concerned with speed of Main Street in the Heights.  Dan Brooks (represent Billings Chamber of Commerce) 815 South 27th Street, Billings, Montana: In support of Inner Belt Loop to unite city and betterment of city. Offered any services/help if needed.  Jeff Bullman (Department of Natural Resources) 1371 Rim Top Drive, Billings, Montana: Discussion of easement agreements/alignments. Development in county and fire service: most land is in Fuego fire district which does not provide structure protection and is a barrier to development in the county. The land across from Skyview, they are looking at different models to partner with private developers. TOPIC #2 Council Holiday Schedule PRESENTER Chris Kukulski, City Administrator NOTES/OUTCOME Cancel 12/23/2019 meeting  Kukulski: Normally 2 work sessions/2 council meetings each month. Preference in December for: 1st work session first Monday; 2nd meeting, 4  standard meeting; turn 3rd Monday, the 16th, into a regular meeting; and cancel meeting on 12/23 so get in 2 formal meetings. No objections.  Kukulski: Possible adjustment for Thanksgiving week meetings.  Public Comment: None TOPIC #3 Council Discussion PRESENTER NOTES/OUTCOME  Ronning: 1) Congratulated Zoo Montana: after 8 years, received accreditation; 2) Battalion Chief accident discussion and wish for a speedy recovery; 3) Invite Council/public to the film festival regarding human trafficking Friday night at the Babcock Theatre at 5:30 PM, $10.00/ticket.  Public Comment: None TOPIC #4 Public Comment on Items Not on the Agenda PRESENTER NOTES/OUTCOME  Amelia Marquez, 1522 Virginia Lane, Ward 3, Billings, Montana: Addressed nondiscrimination ordinance. Volunteers as a trans/bi-woman in Billings. Offered assistance if needed.  Shawna Goubeaux, 310 N 27th Street, Ward 1, Billings, Montana: LGBTQ, 406 Pride, president: invites CM to visit resource center.  Kathleen O’Donnell, 625 Yellowstone Avenue, Billings, Montana: Discussion of discrimination and NDO. Offered assistance if needed. 5