City Council Regular Meeting

Star City Council Meeting Minutes December 2, 2008 The regular meeting of the Star City Council was held on December 2, 2008 at Star City Hall at 7:00 pm. Mayor Nathan Mitchell called the meeting to order and all stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call: Council persons Tammy McDaniel, Dustin Christopherson, Tom Erlebach, and Chad Bell were all present. Approval of the Agenda: Bell moved to approve the agenda, Erlebach seconded the motion. All aye: motion carried. Consent Agenda: McDaniel moved to approve the Consent Agenda, Christopherson seconded the motion. All aye: motion carried. The Consent Agenda consisted of Regular Meeting Minutes of November 18, 2008; Claims Against the City for November 2008 and Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law for Star Scholars. Presentations/Public Input: Law Enforcement Report – Chief Ken Ramage: The October report was outstanding. Persons crimes were down, property crimes were up. Persons crimes went up and property went down in November. There were no vehicle accidents in Star in October, but traffic and citations were up. A city light was hit. We had one vandalism incident and one fraud report. The Mayor announced that the City will have a fourth patrol deputy as of January 1st. No officer has been chosen yet. Ada County Paramedics Presentation: Darby Weston, 5870 Glenwood, Garden City, stated that the Ada County Paramedics are very excited to own a piece of property in Star. They are working on hiring an architect and hope to have the building up this summer. A power point presentation was made to the Council. The Ada County Paramedics organization was established in 1975, created under Idaho Code 31-3908. Public: No public spoke. Public Hearing: Annexation and Zoning of Sundance Properties – The Mayor reviewed the application and explained the process. The Mayor asked Council for any ex parte contact or conflicts of interest, hearing none, the Mayor opened the public hearing and asked the applicant to speak. 1 Applicant – Becky McKay, Engineering Solutions, 1029 N. Rosario, Meridian – McKay stated that she was representing Roger Anderson and Larry Laraway on this application. The property is contiguous to Star City limits at the Republic Storage property. The owners are long time residents of Star, they have watched the community grow and want to be a part of Star. Part of the property is located in the overlapping area of Eagle’s, and Meridian’s area of impact. The owners believe it is the right time to bring forth the application and end the possibility of being in multiple jurisdictions, as it could pose problems down the road. They are looking at long term in their estate planning and want the property in Star’s jurisdiction. Mixed use and medium residential designations are shown in Comp Plan for the city. A map showing the requested zoning designations of neighborhood commercial, limited office, mixed use and residential (R2) was shown to the Council. All the proposed highway overlays were shown on the map. McKay stated there was not a lot of difference of where the road goes through the property, and they have matched the EMS access. The parcel that is not a part of the application belongs to Mr. Thomas and he was invited to be part of the application and did not want to be part of this application. Regarding the Idaho Transportation Department’s extension, the applicants are supportive of it and they will cooperate and it will be preserved. McKay stated that this application should not be treated any differently than any other property in Star. Services are extended, the sewer trunk line is at Heron River and will extend to this area; central services are available. This application will benefit the City of Star and will put everything in perspective. It is the applicant’s desire that this develop properly. They have met with the neighbors and have made some requested changes. One request was to put low density residential along the river, they have changed the area to accommodate the neighbors. McKay stated that there were about 10-12 people at the meeting. They received input and did make adjustments. Along the east boundary the R2 zoning was extended at another neighbor’s request. McKay stated that the mixed use won’t all be commercial, it will be integrated as per the zoning ordinance. Council - Erlebach asked about the horseshoe road and matching it up with Plummer. McKay stated that because of the property boundary the road was centered on the property. McKay did speak with Mr. Stevens, the other property owner and he indicated that he may sell his property and then they could line the roadway up. Staff - Mary Shaw Taylor stated that she did receive a comment letter from the Star Fire Department. She did not have any other items to add to her report. Public - David Jones, ITD, P.O. Box 8028, Boise, stated that they received the information about this application and had some other information that they should have included in their response. The Highway 16 project draft is to have signature next month and public hearing is scheduled for February. The record of decision would be made in January 2010. ITD is requesting special permission to do purchase right-of-way prior to the final approval. They will need to assess if all alignments are correct and then they can go ahead and buy right-of-way easements. If it is possible, then in July they can move forward with the timelines. Jones stated that the Highway 16 project from Highway 44 to I-84 will be a type 5 access and the only public accesses will be at the normal accesses – there will be no other accesses allowed. This is to be a get people moving roadway. This 2 project is essentially in the Council’s hands with this application. Council has gone through this before with another application and ITD received a draft development agreement. Jones would like the Council to look at a development agreement again with this application. Jones stated that they could argue highest and best use of the land – agriculture vs commercial prices are different. Jones stated that it does not matter when you zone it. He does have concerns about zoning as a rezone will increase the cost of the project. Jones stated that he appreciates the applicants willingness to work with ITD. He would like the Council to understand how important the development of Highway 16 is. Gary Smith, 258 Langer Lake Way, Star, stated that he has been involved and believes this application will impact Star at an economic level. It will open an artery to I-84 which will great. This will also help finish what we started with what we have done in Star. Smith believes this is an economic development opportunity for Star and if that right-of-way can be protected and that could be a condition, ITD could move forward without dollars moving up. Teri Bath, 597 E. State Street, Eagle, stated that the Eagle Tech corridor is in this area, she is working on the Resolution for the cities to sign. It is important to the economic development and the infrastructure will be important as well. It is Eagle and Star’s area of impact. She is not saying that the property owners don’t have the right to get the best price for their property. This is really important. Lloyd Aikens, 8193 Moon Valley Road, asked ITD what happens to the intersection at Moon Valley Road. Jones has no idea what will happen to the intersection, but that it will be impacted a great deal. Aikens stated that the subject property goes around him and will impact what goes around him for access. Jones stated the property cul-de-sacs where that road meets and there would tentatively be no direct access to Highway 16. Richard Lubbers, 551 Chrystal Springs Lane, stated that he has listened to everyone talk about the economic advantages. Lubbers asked if this isn’t just a way to shoot traffic from Emmett to the freeway and what’s the benefit to Eagle and Star? They probably won’t stop in either city. Lubbers stated that there will be a huge financial advantage to the property owners and wanted to know if it would benefit anyone else. The Mayor stated that unless a property was touching the highway, they would not benefit. Applicant – McKay stated that they understand that it will take ITD to make a determination on this alignment, but they have taken in to account what we do know. Her clients have been in contact with ITD with environmental engineers. Regarding the highest and best use of the property, McKay has worked as an expert witness on condemnation properties. An example is at Linder and Overland Roads, the highway took out a substantial amount of property that was not annexed into the city, but had an RUT zoning designation and was in the City’s area of impact. The comprehensive plan is what they have to go by for highest and best use until the State of Idaho changes its law. We don’t want the property discriminated against. The property values are declining. Regarding Mr. Smith’s comments and this being a major artery to Star and gateway, her clients want it to be. Regarding the Tech corridor, her clients may want to take advantage 3 of these ideas and would want to be a part of it. They won’t impede anything. This is a rough bubble plan. The time frame of development is not until the ITD corridor is figured out, her clients are satisfied living out there and want to be a part of Star. McDaniel asked if property values have declined everywhere and how much have they declined. McKay stated that it depends on if the property is commercial or residential. She has heard that lots were going for 20’s and residential lots for 80’s. Everything is readjusting and it is significant. Christopherson asked about the development agreement. McKay indicated to her clients that the city attorney would want to draft a development agreement and they could do that. Christopherson asked what the Ada County zoning designation was. McKay stated that it was RUT (rural transitional zone). Bell stated that he appreciates the applicant wanting to work with ITD and appreciates the property owner’s right. Bell thinks it would be a great addition to the City and they are willing to work with everyone. He is still apprehensive about assigning a zoning designation right now, as it would cost the tax payers more than it should. Bell asked if there was a way to put a condition on this property. The Mayor stated that the conversation has been started with COMPASS, and we could bring in a third property, as the owner and ITD are in conflict. There is probably an attorney and appraiser that could look at the property. There are strong arguments for both sides, with that said, if you want to hear from outside sources, we can go find those people at our expense. The Mayor recommended we work through COMPASS. McKay hates for City to go to extra expense for this. She explained that every time you annex property, the owner dedicates additional right-of-way on roads. This will be no different. The Mayor stated that we’ve worked through development agreement processes before. We need to know how to best protect the corridor, using conditional zoning and best practices. McKay stated that if the terms are unacceptable then the application is moot. McKay stated that the owners are willing to cooperate fully to protect the corridor. Mayor Mitchell stated that he appreciates the cooperation and we have to protect that corridor. There have been several years’ worth of intense effort to make this extension work and it would be a mistake if the City made the decision that didn’t protect it. Erlebach stated that he likes the greenbelt. The intersection will be a huge part of Star, as people will be going both ways. Erlebach stated that the homeowners have owned the property for years and doesn’t know why all of the sudden they want to annex the property, especially when the ITD decisions are close. He doesn’t want to make a decision right now, he would like to wait six months and see want happens. McKay stated that they want to be in Star due to the other cities chopping up the area. ITD will have to come up with the highest and best choice. The other application the Council had 4 concerns over had service and access issues, the Mayor was also concerned with the Joplin Road issue. This application has frontage on Moon Valley Road and Highway 16, they comply with the Comp Plan and have reasonable services available to it. Erlebach asked that if we approve the annexation, can the applicants come back and re- annex into another city. The Mayor stated that from an annexation stand point Meridian is just at the tree farm, but property can be de-annexed. The Mayor stated that we are between legal staff right now so we don’t have the answers. McKay stated that the applicants are willing to defer. Bell would like to table this discussion, until we have legal council and at least one more chance to review it. This is a great piece of property for all the amenities it that brings to Star and he would like to continue down the path for a solution for everyone to get what they need and for everyone to be happy. He would like to table this until we have legal counsel and a good discussion on a development agreement. Bell asked when we would get our legal counsel. The Mayor stated that we could make a final decision by January. The Mayor stated that we will have legal counsel in January, but ITD won’t have an alignment until February. The applicant would be okay with continuing this to the March 3rd meeting. Bell moved to continue the annexation and zoning of the Sundance Properties to March 3, 2009, at City Hall, at 7 pm, Erlebach seconded the motion. All aye: motion carried. Ordinances and Resolutions: Ordinance No. 194 Speed limit in City limits – McDaniel moved that pursuant to Idaho Code, Section 50-902 the rule requiring an ordinance to be read on three different days, with one reading to be in full, be dispensed with and that Ordinance No. 194 be considered after reading once by title only, Bell seconded the motion. Roll Call: McDaniel, Christopherson, Erlebach and Bell – all aye: motion carried. The Mayor reviewed the ordinance’s purpose. Bell moved to approve Ordinance No. 194,an Ordinance establishing the maximum speed limit on City Streets within the City of Star, Idaho, as twenty miles per hour except where otherwise posted; establishing maximum speed limits for Idaho Highway 44 (State Street) and a portion of Star Road within the City of Star; providing for the posting of speed limits in accordance with law; providing for penalty; repealing Ordinance No. 39, adopted on March 20, 2000; and providing an effective date, Christopherson seconded the motion. Roll Call: McDaniel, Christopherson, Erlebach and Bell – all aye: motion carried. Resolution No. 2008-16 Gem Grant Program – The Mayor asked Gary Smith if this was specific to the Master Plan. Smith stated that it was. The Mayor stated that the City was required to approve the resolution designating what the project was for and a specific 5 body to administer the grant. Christopherson moved to approve Resolution No. 2008-16, Gem Grant Program, McDaniel seconded the motion. All aye: motion carried. Reports: Staff – Mary Shaw Taylor received a complaint regarding repainting the fire hydrants and the gentleman had already contacted the Star Fire Department and Sewer and Water District. The Mayor asked Taylor to find out the responsible party. Shaw Taylor stated that it was the Star Sewer and Water District’s responsibility. She will have a report on the zoning ordinance in January. There is an application pending, which was tied to the application heard tonight. We will need to table it at the next meeting. Council – Bell stated that he attended a Valley Regional Transit meeting. They continue to report that inter-county routes continue to gain ridership. Mayor - The Mayor stated that there were a lot of meetings this month, mainly specific issues to legislation. The Lakeshore HOA are walking the property to see what they are happy with. The Mayor has asked the highway district to re-pave Rice Road, it probably won’t happen. Regarding the study. Shaw Taylor stated that it is not done yet as Canyon Highway District is still in the process of providing their information. The City’s portion is done. Bell asked to schedule a retreat. The Mayor will have it scheduled for mid February and have Galena consultants report. The Mayor stated that the tree lighting will be at City Hall at 6 pm on Saturday the 6th. Adjournment: Bell moved to adjourn the meeting, Christopherson seconded the motion. All aye: motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 9:20 pm. Respectfully submitted: Approved: ____________________ ______________________ Cathy Ward, City Clerk Nathan Mitchell, Mayor 6