City Council Regular Meeting

STAR CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES September 26, 2014 The Council Workshop was held at the Ashley Inn in Cascade, Idaho on September 26, 2014. The Workshop started at 10:30 am. Those Present: Mayor Nathan Mitchell, Council persons Tammy McDaniel, Richard Lockett, Tom Erlebach and Chad Bell, City Attorney Cliff Brown and City Clerk Cathy Ward. The workshop began with a review of staff questions regarding the Unified Development Code. Bonding in the summer months - Staff explained that the UDC was not clear as to when bonding could take place. It has been the policy to not allow bonding in the summer months. After discussion, it was decided that bonding would not take place in the summer months. Safety and Ponds/Lakes – Staff asked if Council would like to see any changes made with regard to the safety of pond/lakes i.e., access for emergency vehicles and or life safety stations. Discussion was held on options and the outcome of life safety stations. It was decided that no requirements would be added, but Council would like it noted in staff reports whether developers have made access points to their ponds/lakes. Open Space & Amenities – Staff asked if Council was happy with the open space and amenities list or if they would like to see changes. Discussion was held about subdivision swales and open space. Staff presented an additional list of amenities to Council. Council decided not to change the requirements, but want the additional amenities added to the Code. Block and Cul-de-sac length – Staff stated that Council has waived the length on both of these items prior and wanted to know if these were something they wanted to change. It was decided that no changes would be made to Code regarding these two lengths. Waivers – Staff explained that Council has approved waivers previously, but the UDC does not have criteria for waivers. It was decided to get rid of waivers and the fee and use variances, except for preliminary plats and conditional use permits. Staff will strongly suggest customers against variances if they cannot meet the criteria. Pathways – Staff asked Council if they wanted to see more pathways in the City. Discussion was held and Council wants to see connectivity from plat to plat. Streetlight Discussion – Staff stated that the current code states that the City decorative streetlights will be in the Central Business District and Star Road, but currently lights on North Star Road have not been installed due to having approved subdivisions prior to the code. Council determined that the UDC needs to be written to include these decorative streetlights from Center Street to Taurus and South Star Road only. 1 Weed Abatement - Staff requested adding more wording to the weed abatement section – “Owners and Homeowners Associations are responsible for weeds (over twelve inches in height) to the middle of alleys and ditches/canals.” Council decided to add this wording under the Nuisance Ordinance. Homeowners Associations Filing Complaints – Staff stated that the City has been receiving more and more complaints from HOA’s and that staff has been responding to these complaints; the problem comes when the problems have already been taken care of. Staff requests HOA’s be required to take pictures with dates when submitting their complaints. The Council stated they would like to see the photo requirement added to the complaint form. Public Hearing Sign Requirements – Staff asked Council if the City needed more required information on public hearing signs. The instance that just arose was a developer that neglected to put the zoning designation he was requesting on the sign. The Council agreed that the zoning designation should be a requirement and the UDC should reflect this. Processing Preliminary Plats with Annexations and Zoning - Staff asked Council for a clear decision on this as the UDC does not state one way or the other. It was determined that they will be allowed to be processed together, but staff will inform the applicant that if the zoning requested is not approved, they will pay all the fees again for the new applications. Discussion was held on the reason for this question. The last application, the Council did not approve the zoning and waived the fees for a new application. Discussion was held on 300’ notices for this application. Council determined that the notices should be sent to the 300’ people as they have not seen the new application. Gated Communities – Staff stated that the current UDC did not allow for gated communities and asked if Council wanted to reconsider this. Council discussed this issue at length. Two criteria were clear – if we allow gated communities they will be built to Ada County Highway District standards and they will provide for pedestrian connectivity. Churches – Staff stated that we have in Star several churches that are in residential districts and as such are not allowed by code to have activities outside church events occur at the churches. Staff asked if Council would like to consider some options for this. It was decided that churches holding activities outside of church events will be required to obtain permits from the City stating when, where, who, etc. These permits will be free. Lot Splits and Lot Line Adjustments – Staff stated that currently the UDC does not mention these two items and needs to. Council agreed that both of these items should be added to the UDC, with an original parcel being as of 1997. Everyone broke for lunch. The Mayor asked for volunteers to serve on the Ada County Solid Waste Committee, Councilman Lockett volunteered. 2 Discussion was had on the need to clean up the River Walk. Staff stated that we are still receiving several complaints about horse riders that fail to clean up after their horses. Comprehensive Plan Review & Discussion – Review and discussion of the Comp Plan determined that the Comp Plan for the most part is in good shape; the area that really needs updating is the technical plan. We need to update populations and logistics. It was determined that we could wrap up the entire workshop on Friday if we wanted to work through until dinner. Everyone agreed to work through until dinner. Comprehensive Map & Zoning Map – A new zoning map was given to everyone. Staff noted that the yellow color for public would be changed back to the regular zoning designation. This Zoning Map is up-to-date. The Comp Map is not up-to-date as we have not processed the Comprehensive Map changes for several years. This will need to be updated. The Mayor stated that the only item on the Comp Plan he would like to see changed is the designation for the farthest property to the west in Canyon County. The workshop was adjourned at 5:15 pm. 3