City Council Regular Meeting

Star City Council Meeting Minutes September 6, 2011 The regular meeting of the Star City Council was held on September 6, 2011. Mayor Nathan Mitchell called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm and all stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call: Council persons Tammy McDaniel, Gary Smith, Tom Erlebach and Chad Bell were present. Approval of the Agenda: Bell moved to approve the agenda and add 6C Clarification of Lot LineAdjustment, Erlebach seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Consent Agenda: Bell moved to approve the Consent Agenda consisting of: Claims Against the City for August 2011; Regular Meeting Minutes for August 2, 2011; and Red Ribbon Week Proclamation, McDaniel seconded the motion. Smith asked to add some comments to the August 2, 2011 minutes. Bell amended his motion to remove 4B Regular Meeting Minutes – August 2, 2011 and move it to 6D, McDaniel amended her second. All ayes: motion carried. Presentations/Public Input: Valley Regional Transit – Kelli Fairless – Kelli Fairless from Valley Regional Transit presented a progress report for the 2011 fiscal year. She noted they were changing the structure of their Boards and are creating a master plan called ValleyConnect which will integrate all of VRT’s plans, programs and services into one document. She reviewed the highlights of their capital infrastructure and various community transportation projects. Erlebach asked if service down Floating Feather was a new service or a planned service to which Fairless stated it was a planned service and they would need to correct the map. Smith asked if the Chinese bus company was still coming to the valley; if there are still two bus routes in Star; and if VRT would be coming to the cities asking for more money. Fairless stated she believed the bus company was still coming to the valley; yes, there were still two bus routes although they may need to review them; and no, they would not be asking for more money as they planned to stay within the 2011 budget figures in 2012. Mayor Mitchell asked if Eagle was committed to the Highway 44 route. Fairless stated Eagle had committed, but Middleton was still evaluating whether to pull their funding. Christina Flores – Job Opportunity – Christina Flores, 12336 W. Bridger Bay, Star, stated that as the city grows she felt the position for a Director of Community Services might be justified. The Director would assist with park and recreation events and developing programs; plan city events; be a face to the community by developing a webpage of what is going on, creating a community calendar; be a contact for the media; work with other organizations so they are not overlapping services; and develop an art commission. 1 Mayor Mitchell asked if she was looking at this as a proposed City position, to which Flores stated it would be. The Mayor asked the Council to consider this proposal and decide if there was any interest and what the position might entail. Flores stated she had gathered job descriptions from other cities and had submitted a possible job description to the Mayor. Mayor Mitchell stated he would get the job description to the Council. Smith stated he would appreciate the outline and job description and noted he felt the Star Community Council was an excellent committee. McDaniel asked if Flores saw this position as starting out as part-time and Flores stated she did, but saw it turning into full-time quickly, especially with assisting with park and rec. Mayor Mitchell asked Council if they would like a formal proposal brought back for consideration. Bell stated he felt the current staff could address a lot of these issues at this time. He would like to utilize current staff and analyze the position in the future. Mayor Mitchell stated he would work with Flores to put together a comprehensive description of needs. Smith stated he would like to take the description and compare it with staff duties. Committee Reports – Robert Wurster, Economic Development Committee, reported the committee was working through their priority list of the Master Plan. First on the list is hanging baskets off the light poles and they are working on costs. They are working with staff on flyers to answer questions for new businesses. Smith asked about striping in town. Mayor Mitchell explained the Idaho Transportation Department would be happy to restripe, but the City would have to pay for removing the old stripes. He has asked the Ada County Highway District to put together some numbers and he hopes to have some direction later this week. Smith asked about the Highway 44 Partnership Grant. Wurster stated the City has committed to it and the Mayor noted the City has committed $10,000.00 in staff time and funds. Smith asked if they couldn’t have a Park and Rec report once a month. Mayor Mitchell stated they could have Kim Ingraham present a monthly report or at least a written report. Mayor Mitchell asked Justin Walker, Keller Associates, to give an update on Hunters Creek Sports Complex. Walker noted all rough grading was done, the parking lot was laid out, they have completed most of the underground structure, and were now depositing top soil. They plan to install pressure irrigation next week. There have been four work change orders so far. First change order was to upgrade the electrical conduit for the restroom, cost of less than $500. Second change order was the location of sidewalks to meet ACHD requirement, no additional cost. Third change order authorized an additional 8,000 cubic yards of top soil at the $12 per unit price, additional cost of $96,000. Fourth change order modified the water and sewer connections per Star Sewer and Water request, expect there to be a credit to the City. They are expecting a work change for some additional requirements for ACHD. There is still some discussion as to whether the added 8,000 cubic yards of top soil is enough, may need up to 11,000 cubic yards. The scheduled completion date is October 13, 2011; there have been some 2 delays due to the review process by ACHD so there may not be three inches of grass by October 13th, but should have grass planted. The plan is to purchase and install trees later. The Mayor noted Erlebach is working on tree pricing and some possibilities of getting some donated; the contractor will plant the trees. Smith stated he would like some clarification on the term project manager and who oversees the project. Walker explained the differences between the building situation in Meridian regarding their City Hall and this project in Star. Star has someone designing the project, developing construction plans and someone else building the project. Keller Associates is responsible for the design and does some of the inspections. C & A Paving is the contractor and is ultimately responsible for the construction. As Smith had e-mailed the Mayor to step back from the project, the Mayor explained he just provides guidance and/or clarification and may bring issues before the Council for approval. The Mayor clarified the key difference between Meridian and Star’s projects was that we have only one contractor and one design professional while Meridian had multiple of each. Walker noted the Council had approved a certain dollar amount for engineering and they will have to come back to the Council if additional work needs to be done at an additional cost. When asked if Walker could continue presenting updates to the Council, the Mayor explained they could at the City’s expense or they could have him e-mail updates. McDaniel asked if four inches of topsoil would be enough for growing green grass. Walker stated both the landscape architect and seed provider felt it sufficient, but noted more is better. They had originally planned on six inches of topsoil – bringing in four inches and having two inches from soil on sight – but the soil on sight does not make good topsoil. Public Input – Richard Tinsley, 10459 W. Achillea, Star, stated the Lions International mobile screening unit, capable of screening sight, hearing, blood pressure, and glucose, is available to come to Star on October 20, 2011, and all screenings are open to anyone. He is asking if they can use the empty lot east of City Hall. Erlebach volunteered to contact the property owner to get permission. Tinsley stated the Star Lions Club was putting together a golf tournament in memory of Devin Daniels who was killed in action in Afghanistan. It will be held Monday, September 19, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at River Birch Golf Course and the cost is $30.00. Twenty dollars will go to the golf course and ten dollars will go to put in a large brick at the flagpole at Hunters Creek Sports Complex in his memory. Mayor Mitchell mentioned the Star Mayor’s Madness golf tournament is being rescheduled to late spring 2012 due to Governor Otter moving his golf tournament to September. Christina Flores, 12336 W. Bridger Bay, Star, announced the Star Outreach Fall fundraiser would be held Wednesday, September 14th at the River Rock Ranch. She noted the food bank was in desperate need of food for the community. They are currently supporting 50 families a month and seeing new people each week. In October they will have a push for food drive and hope to collect enough to see them through the holidays. The school supply drive went well and they will be doing a donation to the school to subsidize enrollment costs for students. Erlebach asked about the coat drive and Flores explained they may collect some coats, but would be 3 passing them on to other agencies. For now if someone needs a coat they expect to purchase the correct size and give it to them. They served up to 130 hot dogs a week during their summer lunch program and are working on a program to partner with Idaho Power for a community garden next summer. Old/New Business: Ada County Highway District Projects List - Justin Lucas, Ada County Highway District, 3775 Adams, Garden City, spoke to the Council regarding ACHD Community Project Requests focusing on safe pedestrian and bicycle networks. Lucas noted the Main Street design is almost complete and dollars have been set aside for the project; the signal light at the elementary school has been installed and is working; and they are working on Third Street improvements. Mayor Mitchell noted they drawing for Main Street and they will be before the Council at the next meeting. Twenty-two trees on the east side of Main Street will be marked and anyone will be able to see where improvements will be installed. Future improvements under consideration are a sidewalk on Star Road and a turn lane at Main Street and Star Road. Mayor Mitchell asked the Council to come back to the next meeting with items to add to the list. Lucas stated they would to see the list prioritized and sidewalk projects separated from road projects. He noted they are looking for safety issue projects and projects near schools get more points. Smith asked for a list of what was submitted last year. Erlebach asked if funding was four or five years out. Lucas stated that wasn't necessarily so, but 2012 and 2013 were filled. Ordinance No. 220 Annual 2011 – 2012 Appropriations - 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. 220 be considered after reading once by title only, Bell seconded the motion. Smith stated he had voted against the budget and would have to continue voting against it. Mayor Mitchell explained this motion was for dispensing of reading the Ordinance three times, not for passing the Ordinance, that motion would follow. Roll Call: McDaniel, Smith, Erlebach and Bell – all ayes: motion carried. McDaniel moved to approve Ordinance No. 220, an Ordinance, to be termed the annual Appropriation Ordinance of the City of Star, Idaho, for the fiscal year commencing October 1, 2011, and ending on September 30, 2012, appropriating sums of money in the aggregate amount of $1,344,764.00 to defray all necessary expenses and liabilities of the City of Star for said fiscal year; specifying the object and purposes for which such appropriations are made and the amount appropriated for each object and purpose; authorizing the certification to the County Commissioners of Ada and Canyon Counties, Idaho, the amount of $811,859.00 property taxes to be levied and assessed upon the taxable property in the City; providing for the filing of a copy of this Ordinance with the Office of the Idaho Secretary of State as provided by law; providing for publication; and providing for an effective date, Erlebach seconded the motion. Mayor Mitchell explained the $1,344,764.00 is income from all sources, while $811,859.00 is the portion of income expected from property taxes. Roll Call: Bell, Erlebach, Smith, McDaniel - all aye. The Mayor explained to Smith they had just voted to pass Ordinance 220 approving the 4 2012 budget and had understood Smith wished to vote no and had just voted yes. Smith stated he wished to vote no because there were no job descriptions for staff and he couldn't approve wages because he had nothing to base the money on. Mayor Mitchell asked to have the record reflect Smith changed his vote to no and Ordinance No. 220 passed three to one. Clarification of Lot Line Adjustment - Justin Walker, Keller Associates, explained two property owners have lots side by side and one wants to give some property to the other. This situation is odd and being brought before the Council because it overlaps subdivision boundaries. It will be adjusting a subdivision line by adding ground. Mayor Mitchell noted that if both lots were in one subdivision this would be done by staff approval and wouldn't even need to be brought before the Council. Walker noted there is nothing that authorizes or stops this kind of situation. The subdivisions were approved originally under the County and recorded before Star became a City. Both parties are willing to the change of boundaries. He was before the Council looking for guidance. Bell asked what expenses would be incurred and Walker stated the record of surveys. Bell stated he was okay with the line adjustment if property owners were willing to pay the costs. Erlebach asked if any banks will have to be involved. The Mayor explained the City would not be a party to anything pertaining to banks and nothing in our process notifies a bank. Cliff Brown, Attorney for the City, stated if a bank has a lien on the property being transferred, it may place a lien on both pieces of properties. Bell stated he did not see any issues with the lot line adjustment. Mayor Mitchell stated if no objections, Kellers would review the record of survey to make sure it meets code. Regular Meeting Minutes - August 2, 2011 - Smith stated he had several corrections to the August 2, 2011 minutes that he would like added. In paragraph 1 of the Pre-Council Meeting he would like added "A discussion was held in a public meeting in Cascade on February 25th and 26th. Salary increases for both Mayor and Council were discussed." In paragraph 6 of the Pre-council meeting Smith would like the statement “he received several responses agreeing with him” corrected to state "the Star Community Database covers an estimated 50% of the residents, business owners, property owners and some of our local and state elected officials that have asked to be copied or consented to receiving e-mails from that database. A total of 57 responses were received, 84% said no to any salary raises, 16% asked for more information before making a decision." In paragraph 8 of the Pre-council meeting Smith would like the correction to reflect "he (Smith) never asked the public 'to stop the process'." In paragraph 4 of the Regular Meeting: Public Input, Smith would like to add the statement "The Mayor also stated that the meeting in Cascade was a public meeting, that minutes were taken and that the public was invited." 5 Smith moved to approve the August 2, 2011 minutes as corrected, McDaniel seconded the motion. Bell-nay, Erlebach, Smith, and McDaniel-aye: motion was approved three to one. Public Hearing: Unified Development Code – Mayor Mitchell explained the proposed Unified Development Code combined the current zoning ordinance and subdivision ordinance and would streamline the process for land applications. The Unified Code had been out for the public to review and the City hired an independent company to review it. He explained they would start the public hearing with Shawn Nichols, SLN Planning, reviewing the document, and then would take public testimony. Mayor Mitchell declared the public hearing open and asked for comments from the Council. A discussion regarding gravel pits (page 70) and adding its definition (page 174) would allow gravel extraction in certain situations with a conditional use, such as personal ponds. Erlebach asked how deep some of the ponds in the area were, to which he was informed the one at Pinewood was 35 feet and the one at Phillips was 45 feet. McDaniel asked about Nichols recommendation on page 102 to remove the entire Section 8-4 A- 11 Drainage and Storm Water Management and instead adopting it as policy and referencing the policy in the Code. Walker stated they could reference ACHD standards. Mayor Mitchell stated he preferred leaving this section in as it made it easier to find. Smith asked about the conditional use process (page 16). The Mayor explained that if certain uses are approved by a conditional use, they must come before the City and it gives the neighbors a chance to comment on it. If it is a permitted use they can put in without coming before the City. Nichols is recommending approval of condition uses to be valid for 24 months from 18 months. Smith asked if policy would monitor ongoing yard sales. The Mayor stated that first the City would write a letter and if they don't respond then the police officers pay a visit. The officers can issue a misdemeanor citation if the issue can't be settled. Smith asked if it is rental property, is the property owner responsible. The Mayor said yes, a letter would go to the property owner. Bell stated he felt changing notice of neighborhood meeting from three to six months (page 4) seemed like a long time. Mayor Mitchell stated it says shall not be held more than six months before submittal of application. They may not need that long, but if they did in the future it would give them time to redraw plans from the comments they receive. He noted they could adopt it at 90 days and if it becomes an issue then it could be changed to six months. Bell pointed out that on page 222 L-2 the four before twenty four needed to be deleted and it just read twenty four. Mayor Mitchell opened discussion regarding Chapter 8 Sign Regulations explaining the sunset law says older signs must meet the new requirements by a certain date. The Council could adopt the Unified Code without the sign regulation chapter or they could adopt with the sign regulation 6 chapter and delete the sunset clause. Older signs would have to meet the new code if they were to change. The Mayor stated he was not in favor of adopting with the sunset clause. McDaniel stated she was in favor of leaving the sign regulations in the code without the sunset clause. Smith stated he agreed with McDaniel and asked the City Attorney regarding business complaints. Brown noted businesses would have to meet the code with new signage. Nichols noted he felt there were more concerns regarding banner, sandwich, and temporary signs. Mayor Mitchell stated he felt this is a better sign ordinance, but was in favor of striking the sunset clause. Mayor Mitchell asked for public input. Philip Janquart, The Independent News, asked how they plan to enforce the new code. Mayor Mitchell explained it will be enforced at the time they apply for new permits or new uses. When an applicant applies they will be reviewed for conformity and periodically staff will drive around to review for conformity. Letters would be sent to non-compliant owners. Craig Groves, 1500 W. Bannock, Boise, asked what will the sign ordinance state regarding temporary real estate signs. The Mayor stated it is generally more lenient. Groves stated he had no problem with it if it is more lenient. Groves asked in regards to real estate signage on page 221, did he understand there would be no permit required if it is a standard sign, but if the sign were larger, then they would need a permit. The Mayor stated that was correct. McDaniel asked about comment 96 (page 181) and its reference to residential roofs. The Mayor stated they could strike comment 96. Erlebach questioned why mother-in-law quarters could not have a separate address or have rent charged (page 42). Nichols stated they were trying to prevent having two residences on one lot. Groves wanted clarification that the accessory dwelling unit, whether separate or attached to primary residence, could have a full kitchen. The Mayor stated an accessory dwelling could be put on any size lot as long as the unit(s) met setbacks and conditions. Mayor Mitchell stated he was looking for permission to have staff clean-up the draft. Bell moved to adopt the Unified Development Code with the suggested amendments and striking the sunset clause, Smith seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Reports: Staff – Staff had nothing to report. Council – McDaniel announced ACCEM had e-mailed her of three memorial services being held around the valley to mark the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks on September 11th and invited everyone to attend. She also let everyone know September is Emergency Preparedness month and ACCEM has a website setup for hazard preparedness. Smith stated he attended the District 14 meeting Friday, and Star’s 1st Friday was held last Friday at the food bank. He informed the Council the Chamber meetings were now educational sessions 7 with guest speakers. He asked the Mayor about the auditor’s not being at meeting tonight and the Mayor stated he will reschedule them for the next meeting. Smith asked where e-mails to the City went, as he has been informed citizens are not getting replies. Mayor Mitchell stated they go to the City Clerk and he would check on the e-mails. Erlebach thanked Craig Groves for working with them by allowing access through his property while the City was installing the fence at the River Park property and extending the River Walk. Bell noted that VRT meeting had been cut to twice a year and the next board meeting would be in January. He announced he has a new granddaughter. Mayor – Mayor Mitchell stated the City was missing an automobile policy in order to qualify for a discount from Risk Management and he would have something before the Council at the next meeting. Smith stated he felt it would be helpful if they came and explained the risk management. Smith asked for clarification on who was responsible for the water at the River property. Mayor Mitchell stated he and Tom have been working with it and once everything is established then the landscapers would be responsible. The Mayor stated he had received a thank you from the family of fallen soldier Devin Daniels for the message on the City’s sign. He noted we had been unofficially informed we would be receiving an Idaho Smart Growth Award for the River Walk Pathway. He announced this Friday was the last day to file to run for an elected position. The Mayor noted minutes from the Cascade Retreat were never officially approved. Before the Council was a copy of his notes, and asked the Council to review them and send any comments they have to the City Clerk. There would be a copy of the minutes from the retreat in the next council packet for approval. Adjournment: Bell moved to adjourn the meeting, Erlebach seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 pm. Approved: Respectfully submitted: ________________________ Nathan Mitchell, Mayor _____________________________ Kathleen Hutton, Deputy City Clerk 8