City Council Regular Meeting

City of Star Meeting Minutes July 3, 2007 Mayor Mitchell called the regular meeting of the Star City Council to order at 7:00 pm at the Star Fire Station and all stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call: Council persons Tammy McDaniel, Tom Erlebach and Chad Bell were present. Councilman Dustin Christopherson was absent. Approval of Agenda: Bell moved to approve the agenda, Erlebach seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Consent Agenda: McDaniel moved to approve the Consent Agenda and add the final cleanup invoice from Landscape Innovations for Lakeshore Park Subdivision to the claims, Bell seconded the motion. The Consent Agenda consisted of Approval of June 19, 2007 Regular Meeting Minutes, Council Workshop Minutes – Cascade June 14/15, 2007, Claims Against the City, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for SB/CH Land Company Annexation & Zoning and Taurus Village Preliminary Plat. All ayes: motion carried. New Business: Comprehensive Plan/Land Use Workshop: The Mayor explained the Council was holding a workshop regarding the Comprehensive Plan draft document (Comp Plan). Jerome Mapp, WRG Design, explained the document before the Council still had some clerical errors that needed to be edited, but the content was pretty much done. He informed the Council the Comprehensive Review Committee would like to meet with the Council, to discuss the Comp Plan, before the document goes to the final edit. Bell stated he didn’t see more than a few minor clerical errors and felt none of the content was out of line. He was concerned about the section on infill in town and felt infill should be medium to medium-high density. The map did not reflect any of this. Mapp stated he would prefer there be more density in the downtown area, but the Committee didn’t feel the same. He noted he had spent a lot of time at the beginning of the process educating the committee. Mayor Mitchell stated he felt it would be beneficial to hold a discussion with the Review Committee. He would like to see a cleaned up version of the Comp Plan at that time. They also need to discuss the next steps to be taken to take the document to public hearing. He see’s redoing the ordinances and the park master plan in-house, instead of contracting it out. Bell asked Mapp if he was comfortable holding a conversation between the Committee and Council on July 17th and would they have a spokesman or would everyone be 1 speaking. Mapp explained all Committee members have opinions and would wish to share them. Erlebach asked who owned the green space along the river. The Mayor explained some was owned by the Canyon Ditch Company, Ada County, and the State of Idaho. Bell stated he didn’t see anything out of line and feels they are close enough to go forward and schedule a hearing for the second meeting in August. Mapp stated he would like to make sure all edits are done and drafts for public to review could be placed at City Hall and the Library. Bell asked if the document could be placed on the web site. The Mayor explained they have been having posting problems with the web site but they would try to post it. Bell stated he was okay with the various posting sites. Mapp explained they would hold a public hearing regarding the Comp Plan and take comments. The Council would accept or deny any of the proposed changes. The Council would also be approving any changes to the map at the public hearing. Bell stated he was concerned with the verbage between infill and the map not matching. Mapp informed the Council that various agencies had met with the Review Committee; and Chris Danley, from ACHD, would be willing to be at the July 17th meeting and show some traffic estimates for the map. Mayor Mitchell reviewed the projected schedule; the rough draft is now in front of Council, in two weeks they will have a draft with clerical errors cleaned up, hold a hearing in mid August, and have the final document done the first of September. Bell stated this would work as their goal is to have the document published the end of September. The Mayor pointed out the final document would be adopted by a resolution. McDaniel pointed out she liked the new format of the document. Mapp pointed out the population estimates would be good to use with the park plan. Mayor Mitchell stated he recognized the most significant changes to the document will be to the map. He asked the Council if they were comfortable with the City Planner starting the changes to the ordinances with this draft as it is. Bell reiterated that in regards to the infill, he would like the terminology and the map to match, as he would like to not have to make many changes to the Comp Plan Map in the future. Mapp stated they should have a good discussion on July 17th on how they want it laid out. Bell stated he felt it was laid out good enough to allow them to start on the unified code. Mayor Mitchell stated they would have to decide on July 17th how involved they want the Review Committee to be in the process for writing the unified code. He knew they wanted some say on design standards. He felt they will need to schedule some time in the process to gather their comments. Mapp stated it might be possible to give them information in bulk for them to review and add their comments. 2 McDaniel asked if the map would be ready for the meeting on July 17th if they were going to change the colors on it. Mapp stated he would contact Keller Associates and check if it can be done. Mayor Mitchell stated he would have the City Planner work with Keller Associates to get it done. Mayor Mitchell moved the workshop discussion to land use concerns. He pointed out the Council had two options. If annexation is a concern they can administratively say no or they could implement a land use moratorium. He asked for their guidance in the matter. McDaniel asked about the timeframe for the final Comp Plan and ordinance rewrites. The Mayor explained they are looking at the Comp Plan in September, ordinance rewrites in 2-4 months, and the timeframe for the park master plan and downtown revitalization was unknown. Erlebach asked if they were thinking of a moratorium on annexations, could they selectively approve what they wanted. The Mayor stated they could, but explained they must have justification for what they did not approve. It would be best to encourage them to submit applications with what the Council wants to see by explaining what and why you want it through the formal process. He would be hesitant to take some applications and not others. McDaniel stated she felt they should press on to get the Comp Plan and park master plan written and continue accepting applications. City Planner, Mary Shaw Taylor, pointed out that an administrative decision to stop taking applications could create problems. Bell stated he started this conversation because they were creating a unified code, master park plan, and a revitalization of downtown and felt they should be done and done right before there were too many more applications turned in. He was not sure a moratorium was the right way to go; maybe they could accept applications and inform developers they may be required to address certain items, such as, ample open space for walkways and parks or the Council may want design review before approval. The Mayor cautioned them that they need to have answers to want they want. They can not be vague with developers on what they want. They could accept applications with development agreements negotiating the terms the Council wants. Erlebach stated he didn’t think they needed a moratorium; he felt the economy has created a moratorium for them. He felt they should allow people to annex and the Council could state the terms and let them know there will be some changes. Mayor Mitchell stated one option could be to use the map from July 17th as a reference. When applicants come in they could be informed the Council wants them to use this map instead of the current Comp Plan map. 3 Bell agreed that the economy is dictating annexation and he wasn’t necessarily saying they need to implement a moratorium. They need to make some decisions and set some criteria. They can get the map to where they are comfortable with it and use it, and they need to discuss more open space. Erlebach stated he thought they had already set a percentage for open space. Mayor Mitchell stated bigger developments had been complying with their request for more open space through development agreements. The Council needs to be specific and define what they want so developers can comply. He requested the Council come up with a list of what they want to put into place – possible changes they want to see in the unified code. McDaniel stated she would like the City to continue accepting applications. The City Planner stated the biggest priority is the parks master plan and that open space standards be set and put into the new ordinance. They can encourage new applicants to use creative design. Adjournment: Bell moved to adjourn the meeting, Erlebach seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 8:05 pm. Respectfully Submitted: Approved: __________________________ ________________________ Kathleen Hutton, Deputy Clerk Nathan Mitchell, Mayor 4