City Council Regular Meeting

Star City Council Meeting Minutes October 3, 2017 The regular meeting of the Star City Council was held on October 3, 2017 at 7:00 pm at the Star City Hall, 10769 W. State Street, Star, Idaho 83669. Mayor Chad Bell called the meeting to order and all stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call: Councilman Richard Lockett, Trevor Chadwick and Kevin Nielsen were present: Councilman David Hershey was absent. Approval of the Agenda: Lockett moved to approve the Agenda as presented, Chadwick seconded the motion. Nielsen asked to clarify 6D, the Agreement for Computer Services, it should be changed to Agreement for Web Management. Lockett amended his motion, Chadwick amended his second. All ayes: motion carried. Consent Agenda: Chadwick moved to approve the Consent Agenda consisting of: Regular Meeting Minutes of September 19, 2017, Claims Against the City for September 2017, Crow Foot Subdivision Final Plat, Phase 1 and Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law for Dogs Day Out Conditional Use Permit, Lockett seconded the motion, All ayes: motion carried. Presentations/Public Input: Committee Reports – Jennifer Salmonsen, 9956 W. Golden Rain, Star, Idaho, stated she is the appointed chairman of EDC; EDC agendas are posted at City Hall. She is pleased that Council approved the Strategic Plan. She and Nielsen have already had a phone conference with Brian Coles and set up the timeline. November 10th and 11th will be plan week; from November to January there are scheduled workshops; February will be presentations and March will be the final plan. Nielsen sent a letter to the paper for that information and will review the applications. Applicants need to be available on the 10th and 11th. If the public wants to find out about the project there will be a “Voice of Community” meeting. Salmonsen stated that the Pathways and Beautification Committee have a Facebook page; she would like one for EDC as well. Mike Olsen, Chair of the Beautification and Pathways Committee, 12045 W. ___________ thanked members of the committee: Tom Erlebach, Alice Fox, Travis Ruby, Barbara Rienstra, and Gerard Cattin. Olsen reviewed his handout: The Purple Heart signs are up, he would like to designate a parking spot at City Hall for one as well. Eagle has one and it is painted purple. The pole banners for Connie Krebs are in; on page 2 is the plaque that will be presented on October 11; page 3 is the announcement. They are working on taking the street lights down to get the poles powder coated. They are waiting on the $10,000 from St. Alphonsus for bike racks. Olsen stated they do have a Facebook page. Its primary purpose is to market the stuff their committee is doing. The committee is putting a logo together. They have the “Welcome to Star” design, but the project is on hold. They are looking at a location at Highway 16 and 44. Regarding the walkability path, Sam’s Saloon does not meet ADA compliance. Michael Traficonte stated he was with the Transportation Committee, but had nothing to report. 1 Public Input - Denice VanDoren, 11071 W. Frost Street, Star, Idaho stated she wanted to talk about an agenda item - chickens in Star. When she read the request, she thought of the problems with her neighbors, they live on an 8,000 sq. feet 50 x 160 long skinny lot, they have approximately 16 to 19 chickens and at least three are roosters and they crow at all hours. It is annoying; roosters should not be allowed. She is sympathetic. The people moved there because there are no CC&Rs to enforce. She has filed a complaint, there is a 30 day wait period. If they refuse to comply it could eventually go to a judge. The point is, if you get into a situation, then the remediation can go on for months. Please give careful consideration to this request. Rebecca Cashman, 12059 Havencrest, Star, Idaho, stated she is in support of having or changing ordinances for having chickens. She has quite a few people that support her. Ashley Freeman supports revising the City Code and anything that supports property rights should be supported by the Council. She understands people not wanting roosters. Her lot is 15,000 sq. feet and her neighbors are awesome. She understands the size and numbers. Debbie Butera, 1110 N. Finsbury, Star, Idaho, stated she is with Rebecca and would like Star to allow chickens. A lot of people like to grow their own vegetables and have healthier lives. She would like Star’s Code to be brought up to codes with surrounding cities. The thing with the roosters, she completely agrees with. The crowing is way too early. David Hicks, 12056 Foxhaven, Star, Idaho, stated he supports the change for the chickens in Star. He thinks it’s good for families and raises hens only. David Baumann, 232 Langer Lake Way, Star, Idaho, stated that the teenager Star is growing into an adult, it will be twenty years old at the end of the year. The point is that it has doubled in size and for the City to manage the growth you need to have someone in a planning and zoning position. The Councilmen discussed the budget, then prior Mayor Mitchell pointed out there would be a tax increase, the Council then cut the budget and the first thing that was cut is the planning salary. He doesn’t know how much everyone makes as Council and Mayor so he did some research. The surrounding Councilman salaries for Garden City is $750 a month, Eagle is $1,000, and Meridian is $800 a month. The point is, you can take the Mayor and Council salary increases and put that to use towards a planner. Why do we need a planning and zoning administrator? The Pinewood Lakes Villas application asked to have a variance granted on setbacks, there was an application for variance on the Retail West, the applicant didn’t go through any undue hardship – it did not follow the code. He is not trying to throw Ward under the bus, you gave Ward a 5% raise, she is under paid; other cities have a person that focuses on one job. He believes she deserves a medal. We need a person to focus on land use only. For the future of Star, treat us to a planner. It’s time to treat Star like an adult. Nielson would like the attorney to weigh in on the conversation. Yorgason is not aware of anything the City missed. Mr. Baumann is correct, the finding is a requirement of the Council. It is a finding made by the City Council. Nielsen stated if a request is made for a height waiver, he is unaware how that provides an undue hardship. Yorgason stated there is a difference 2 between a variance and a waiver; Council can’t grant a variance without cause, waivers can be included in development agreements. The shopping center had a development agreement which included a waiver of building height. Variances are specific requirements tied to characteristics of the property. Travis Bright, 12505 W. Kempshire Court, Star, Idaho, stated he is in support of changing rules for having chickens. He believes there should be restrictions on roosters, and problems can be handled through nuisance. It is the same situation as dogs. People should have the right to use their land as they see fit. Nielsen is curious about the chickens, he has had a lot of chickens growing up, dogs don’t perch on a car and poop on it. Nielsen asked Bright what he saw as enforcement when people don’t follow the rules. Bright stated they could clip wings and clip vocal chords. Nielsen stated there are a lot of health concerns, our ordinance provides for varying conditions. We should think through this animal health and human health. Bright stated it is similar to dogs and cats, it’s not the same but it’s similar. Nielsen stated that it can encroach on other people’s property. Discussion was had on the number of chickens. Nielsen stated that most HOA’s have rules against chickens, should the City override the subdivisions? Bright stated they should. Nielsen asked Yorgason if the City can override HOA’s. Yorgason stated HOA’s can’t be less restrictive, and CC&Rs are a contract, homeowners are buying into the contract. Constitutionally, we can’t undo contractual rights. Example is painting a house. City does not enforce CC&Rs. Chadwick stated that if we passed the law, HOA’s would have to change. Old/New Business: Public Hearing – McLeod Property Annexation and Zoning: The Mayor reviewed the procedures for public hearings. The Mayor asked Council if there were any conflicts of interest or ex parte contact; hearing none the Mayor opened the public hearing. Applicant: Kathi McLeod, 892 N. Pollard, Star, Idaho, stated she was there as it was their desire to annex into the City of Star. They want to do a lot split and sell a portion of their property. They are asking for a Mixed Use designation. Staff – Ward stated that an additional letter was received from the Idaho Transportation Department today. Public – No public testimony was given. Gerard Cattin asked if they were asking for Mixed Use. The Mayor stated they were. The Mayor asked if the Applicant wanted to rebut the input. Yorgason stated ITD had four comments and none are particularly relevant to this property. There are no new trips and no advertising. It is a standard letter. No change in use. Not putting any restrictions on applicants. 3 McLeod had no objections. Nielsen asked if the entire property will be annexed. It will all be annexed, they want to do a lot split after the annexation into the City. The Mayor closed the public hearing. Chadwick moved to approve File #AZ-17-02, the annexation and zoning of the McLeod property with the six conditions of approval, Lockett seconded the motion. All aye: motion carried. Public Hearing - Moyle Annexation, Zoning, Conditional Use and Comprehensive Plan Map Amendment: The Mayor reviewed the public hearing procedures. The Mayor asked Council if there was any ex parte contact or conflicts of interest; hearing none the Mayor opened the public hearing and asked the Applicant to speak. Applicant: Nate Mitchell, 10305 W. Floating Feather Road, Star, Idaho, showed Council a vicinity plan. He is requesting annexation and zoning of approximately ten acres. The property is north of 44 and west of Moyle Lane. A portion of this property was zoned medium density Residential and a part was zoned Mixed Use; the Comprehensive Plan calls for the entire property to be Mixed Use. Under the Mixed Use designation, the Unified Development Code conditionally allows storage and residential and the conditional use is for those two things. Next slide shows the layout of proposed uses. The right hand side is Moyle Lane and there is residential to the south and west. This is an extension of the storage units across the street and will be identical in design. The first application came before Council in about 2006. Photos were shown. Their request is for a Comp Plan Map Amendment, Annexation, a Zoning designation of Mixed Use, and Conditional Use Permit. He did receive a letter from ACHD and ITD. They asked Council to require curb, gutter and sidewalk. Moyle Lane is an odd situation as ITD built it as an extension of Highway 16. It was built to handle the properties on your Comp Map today. Secondly, the IDAPA rules for storage facilities generates 180 trips per day, well below the 1,000 trips to require a traffic study. The road is built to handle this; ITD has not given the road to ACHD yet. Mitchell would stand for questions. Nielson asked if Mitchell is planning to build curb, gutter and sidewalk. Mitchell stated that yes they would and the engineer will see it on the plans. The roads vertical and horizontal standards were built to ACHD standards but ITD did not want to put in curb, gutter and sidewalk. That is the only reason it has not been given to ACHD. Currently they do not have another road out, but the Fire Department is okay with that. Randy Thompson, 11523 W. Streamview, Star, Idaho, stated that if you approve this application is there any way to get the east gate end open to the public, especially for the elections? The area is very dark. When the elections are going on nobody knows where to go. The Mayor stated that is a different road, it is not Moyle. Thompson stated that it is another lane, but they connect. The Mayor stated that we can ask. Michael Keyes, 338 S. Long Bay Way, Star, Idaho, would like to speak in support of the project, he believes this is a good use of the land and the property owner is providing a good service to 4 the community. If you look for storage in Star, there is a huge shortage and prices have skyrocketed. Additionally, it won’t add traffic to Highway 44 and might add warrants to maybe get a stop light there. It could help solve another problem. He would urge Council to support it. We need to get more storage in Star. Mark Butler, 1675 E. Bishop Way, Eagle, Idaho, stated that Mitchell emailed him the ITD letter, he knew that I was the land use planner representing the property owner going through the eminent domain condemnation case. It is a fact that when the property was transferred from Moyle to ITD, the agreement was the road would be able to handle the impact of development as planned. When you talk about Mixed Use which allows many uses, including a mini storage, it reduces the trip generation. Mitchell stated the plat property split was recorded today. The Mayor asked the Applicant if they would like to rebut any of the testimony. Mitchell stated the UDC does require lights along the street, but does not require lights at the east gate. ITD will not allow that access. The Mayor closed the public hearing. Nielson stated that Republic Storage has done a great job in Star and this addition will fill the need we have in Star. He is in favor of it. Chadwick moved to approve all three files – File #AZ-17-04, CPA-17-04 and CU-17-05 for the Moyle property with the nine conditions of approval, Lockett seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Request to allow chickens in the City outside the UDC regulations - The Mayor discussed the item and stated it would have to be on a different agenda. Staff spoke briefly about the regulations from the surrounding cities. The Mayor does not have staff to police chickens and he does not want his police department chasing chickens. Chadwick suggested it be tabled for a month and let him investigate it. Nielsen stated that Saddlebrook doesn’t allow chickens, but people have them. Agriculture is neat and you can go to Lowes and buy a book on chickens. He struggles with this as you can get too many chickens in a pen. We would be creating an animal welfare in city limits; there is a reason that it is written for that many square feet. He is also concerned about healthy chickens. He has helped 4H kids with chickens on his farm. In suburban areas, a good idea to go to D&B and buy chicks and then they are abused. He doesn’t feel he can support an ordinance change. He knows where people are coming from, but he would not put chickens on his property. Lockett doesn’t have a problem with it. 5 Chadwick wants to table it and post it on a later agenda. The Mayor understands both sides of it. From the enforcement for the City we need to figure it out. It’s the people that don’t do well with chickens that are a concern. Yorgason suggested looking at Emmett, Blackfoot and Buhl, they have very extensive ordinances. There are a couple other jurisdictions around the state, maybe look at them. Randy Thompson stated that it will encourage skunks as they like eggs. Jeanie Nail stated she had ten and a half acres, skunks like chickens. Gerrard Cattin stated the smell of a chicken farm is excruciating. Maybe you should consider so many per lot and include the width of the lot. Agreement for Web Services – The Mayor stated this was the agreement with GovOffice to do the new web page. He asked the Council if they wanted to move forward with it. Chadwick is in favor of it. Nielsen moved to approve the GovOffice Agreement, Chadwick seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. The Mayor and Chief Vogt attended a gathering of all the Cities in Ada County to sign proclamations for Domestic Abuse for the month October. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:23 pm. Approved: ___________________________ Respectfully submitted: Charlten Bell, Mayor ________________________ Cathy Ward, City Clerk 6