City Council Regular Meeting

Star City Council Meeting Minutes March 5, 2019 The regular meeting of the Star City Council was held on March 5, 2019 at 10769 W. State Street, Star, Idaho. The Mayor called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm and all stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call: Councilmen David Hershey, Michael Keyes, Trevor Chadwick and Kevin Nielsen were all present. Approval of the Agenda: Chadwick moved to approve the agenda, Keyes seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Consent Agenda: Chadwick moved to approve the Consent Agenda consisting of: Regular Meeting Minutes of February 19, 2019, Claims Against the City for February 2019, Resignation of Alex Fox from the Economic Development Committee, and appointment of Arlene Nelson and Walt Smith to the Beautification Committee, Keyes seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Presentation/Public Input: Corey Dryden – Frisbee Golf Presentation – The Frisbee Golf presentation will be moved to April 2nd. Committee Reports: Dana Partridge, Activities Committee Chair, stated the Committee had their first meeting on February 21 and they are in full planning mode for the Hometown Celebration. She welcomed new members and they have assigned members to certain tasks. They will have a Spring Garden Tour and then Fall Tour this year. The Recreation Department has asked the Committee to take on movie nights. There will be three movie nights and possibly a summer concert series. They want to participate in the upcoming Chamber events. Mike Olsen, Beautification Committee Chair, stated they will have a Military event on May 18th at 10 am – “Letters from Home”. He asked the Mayor to open event. The plaque is done. Public Input: Chris Todd, 53 N. Plummer Road, Star, Idaho, stated he had a couple different things. He is involved in pathways with the Transportation Committee. He has a conceptual layout for Phase II of Amazon Falls. He is looking forward to the Comp Plan meetings. Commercial space is needed in Star, he gets a lot of questions and it all comes back to the Comp Plan. A lot of people are interested. He has talked with Nickel about the Central Business District and he has also spoken with Butler about the CBD. He will give Yorgason the DA for Amazon Falls II for review. Old/New Business: Public Hearing: Trapper Ridge Subdivision Rezone & Preliminary Plat – The Mayor reviewed 1|Page the procedures for public hearings. The Mayor asked Council for any exparte contact or conflicts of interest; hearing none, the Mayor declared the public hearing open and asked the applicant to speak. Applicant: Kent Brown, Kent Brown Planning, 3161 E. Springwood Drive, Meridian stated the handouts reflected the one-acre parcel that was annexed at the last Council meeting. It also shows Roselands on the easterly boundary and their lots match up to those lots. Brown stated they have tried to accommodate the neighbors and there was one concern regarding the stub street and they were concerned about more traffic, so they have made changes. The Farmers Union Canal is their northern boundary and there is a private lane along the western boundary. A color rendering shows the open space with park and playground equipment at the northerly, the post office boxes will be located there as well. The northerly park has a picnic table and a covered pavilion area. They tried to keep the northerly portion in natural vegetation and there are no designated areas, they want to keep it a natural area to walk. The overall density is three units per acre as was the previous subdivision application. They have tried to keep the roads to be able to move and connect to New Hope Road for residents. The northerly part is steeper and that’s where they have asked for the waiver of the 500’ block length. There is also a pedestrian pathway. The lots are fairly large, the average lot is about 9,000 sq. ft. They have had numerous neighborhood meetings due to the annexation of the one-acre parcel. Towards the back of the handout is a phasing plan where it will start in the southeast corner and then move up the hill in five different phases. At Munger Road, ACHD has planned for a round-about and they have asked for some right-of-way and they will accommodate them. This will be a three-way round- about. Chadwick asked if Brown had seen the ITD letter. Brown stated that they have and ITD is asking them to pay for the turn lane on Can Ada. Brown stated that ACHD stated that they had met all the conditions and if there was something from ITD they should go talk with ITD about it. Keyes stated it would it make sense to talk with ITD prior to Council approval. Brown stated that they would like to talk with ITD. Staff: Ward stated that ITD had not put this State Street improvement on the subdivision that was previously approved on the same site. Public Testimony: John Schram, 3353 N. Munger Road, Star, stated that he has had several meetings with Brown and they are very open to suggestions and requests. He does want to bring a couple items before Council, there is a ditch that runs about half way down the property, it is his understanding that the ditch will be buried, they only ask that the work not happen in the driveway as that is their only access. There are also old trees in and near the ditch. They stopped using the ditch about ten years ago, but it is now being used, he would like the trees to come down. With regards to fencing, the park along the ditch will be a vinyl fence and at the upper portion by their property he would like it to be a metal fence as they are an agricultural use. Also, they have problems with people walking on their property. He also has a question about lights, they have said they would be installing downlighting. This is the first he is hearing about the round-about. He doesn’t understand that. 2|Page Dwayne Janz, 11478 W. Meadow Lily, Star, stated he lived adjacent to this development. He is concerned about traffic flowing into their subdivision. Most of the traffic from Roselands goes to the east. He pointed out the access through Roselands he is concerned about and he would like an entrance moved in Trapper Ridge. Also, the upper end of the Roseland Subdivision isn’t built yet. It would be nice to figure out a way to get the traffic out onto New Hope but not through Roselands. Ken Venturelli, 3034 N. Cherry Laurel Way, Star, asked about the traffic the workers will generate. He would like the HOA to review the plan. He would also like to know who will be enforcing the numerous workman and parking issues in their neighborhoods, should he contact the Police Department. Brenda Weaver, 2620 N. Munger Road, Star, asked about the round-about and what it would entail and how it will affect this area. Weaver asked about where the water retention beds are? She stated that they still get some run-off water from the Trapper Ridge property that comes under the New Hope Road. She wants to have down lighting and wants the builder to consider soffit lights instead of carriage lights and to use softer LED lights. She also asked if the lights will be on timers. She is concerned for the livestock. She asked if Trilogy is part of Corey Barton. Gary Smith, 258 S. Langer Lake Way, Star, stated there was a question that came up about the impact of traffic on Can Ada, he has family in the Havencrest Subdivision. He applauds ITD for looking at this and the City should ask them to look at the regional impact. Subdivisions come in they dump traffic on arterial roads. Smith attended the Planning Academy. If ITD has to make improvements to roads. Subdivisions dump traffic onto main roads - there should be some way the City can help with that. He believes the City should hold off on approvals on this subdivision until you can talk to ITD and ACHD. Once Albertsons goes in people will use Can Ada Road. It is a dangerous road and we should consider that and consider the regional impact. Judy Sailor, 3073 Cherry Laurel, Star, stated they have a fence, she asked if the developer is planning to use their fence or will they be putting up their own fence. Applicant Rebuttal – Brown stated the lighting has come up a number of times in the neighborhood meetings. They will be putting up lights. They have not talked about other types of bulbs. The HOA has to maintain the lights. They do want lights facing down and to provide lighting at the intersections. He understands light contamination. They want to do lights that light the intersections. Brown stated that Schram talked about ditches and trees. The western boundary has trash trees and they will be removing and replacing them and putting a fence down the property line along with piping the ditch. The round-about is not being built by them, it is being built by ACHD and will be built when the traffic warrants. Instead of signal lights ACHD is installing round-abouts. Regarding the traffic concerns from Roselands, they feel they have done a good job so that traffic is going to stay in the Trapper Ridge Subdivision. By moving the intersection, they believe people would not drive through Roselands. This is always a concern it is a part of what we develop. Brown stated they have tried to address the concerns. Brown stated that Sailor’s question about the eastside fencing, if there is an existing vinyl fence they 3|Page will probably not plan an additional fence. If their fence is not on the property line, they will put a fence up. Trilogy is not a part of Corey Barton. They do land development for themselves, but also do work for others. Brown stated that Venturelli asked about workers and driving through their neighborhood. Brown stated that the way the phasing plan is laid out, they believe for the most part it is more convenient for them not to go through Roselands. Brown is not aware of timers for lighting. Weaver asked about drainage, as required by law, they will retain drainage on their site. The Preliminary Plat shows seepage bends, but they are really glorified French Drains. Brown stated that regarding Smith’s comments about ITD, when you read the ACHD staff report, only 10% of traffic will be going that direction. He is not sure about providing a right-hand turn lane when a majority of the people will go west. The fencing will be vinyl fencing and they will protect the Schram property or will provide whatever fencing that will be necessary to protect their property. Chadwick asked if they were fencing the entire property with vinyl. Brown stated there would be vinyl at the back of the homes and the northern area is open metal. Chadwick stated they may want to look at metal fencing that was discussed down on Munger for the Schram property. Chadwick asked if they would be open about discussing that type of fencing. Nielsen stated that Schram’s property is beyond where the homes back up to it. Nielsen stated it would be different fencing than the other fence. Chadwick asked about the traffic going into Roselands, would they consider flipping where the access point is and the play area – just moving it to the west and just the roads to the east so the road goes straight down to New Hope. Brown stated that it was put that way to make people go through Trapper Ridge. Nielsen is interested in what the school said, he doesn’t think it will matter. Hershey stated he has looked at the old subdivision which looks like Boston. He agrees with the straight shot for the road and is curious about the ITD request. When it comes to people speeding, the other cities have the same problem. Other than putting bumps or ruts he doesn’t know how to solve it. People take the path of least resistance. He has no concerns about fencing as they are not burning anything. Chadwick asked if that followed our code now. He stated that we are looking at the dark sky requirements. We don’t want glaring lights. We as a Council can change our code and we will work on it. It can be changed to keep the light out of the atmosphere. Brown asked, do you want the connection by the park moved. It would create a raceway where now, if you have to turn on a corner then you have to slow down. Chadwick asked about shifting the center road going north and south road so traffic goes straight. Brown has spoken with the engineer and neighbors about this. Brown stated he had his first neighborhood meeting in April of last year. They have tried to work with the neighbors and they have been nice to work with, there were no tar and feathers. Keyes stated there was a comment by Venturelli regarding cut-throughs. Can you mitigate that to keep the workers out of Roselands. Keyes stated that with regards to the block length, they are looking at getting rid of the 500-foot block length. Keyes stated that if you could encourage 4|Page people to drive through your subdivision that would be great. With regards to the ITD letter, he has never seen a request like that. He for one is curious to see if ITD is going to ask for this more and more. He would like to get a meeting scheduled as soon as possible. We are interested in dark skies, we need a decent solution. The City has not done things very well is some areas. Brown stated that is really not an issue, they do work with other cities that have dark skies requirements. When Brown was working on the dome at the train depot, the light was going straight out the top and they had to reengineer the lights, they ended up putting mirrors in the top. He doesn’t see it as an issue with a type of light that shines down. Nielsen appreciates Weavers light comments. Would you be able to include the soffit lighting. Brown stated that we don’t do this in other cities. Nielsen stated they probably don’t do this very often. Brown stated they don’t do them. Nielsen the lights are up in the soffit, not the carriage lights. Brownlee asked about all the lights, it is something they can look at. Nielsen stated he would like to have better answers on the ITD request. He would like to know what they say. Brown asked if we can limit this to the fencing, ITD and possibly a realignment. Brownlee asked how to do the waiver for the other roads being over the 500’ length. Ward stated we can make the waiver all-inclusive for the roads. Nielsen stated he finds it odd that ITD would take this project to fund this entire project. The Mayor agreed. There is a pro rata share that should have taken place. He would like the City to take an active voice. The Mayor stated that the City would like to participate in discussions with ITD along with the applicant. The Mayor closed the public hearing. Keyes moved to table this application for one month and then re-open the public hearing with only specific topics: the realignment of subdivision roads, fencing, the contribution to ITD improvements, and work with Nickel to make the 500’ block length all-inclusive as a condition of approval, Chadwick seconded the motion. The date certain for the application is April 2, 2019. All ayes: motion carried. Public Hearing: Tru Hit Fitness Conditional Use Permit – Ken Fearer, 3384 W. Salix Drive, Meridian, stated he is requesting a conditional use permit for a new fitness facility. The franchise is out of Arizona and the fitness center is good for ages 15 to 70. They will have a small daycare area which is great for families, and they will always have a trainer on site. The fitness business is a yoga style and body weight place, they have no plug-in equipment. The current location is about 3,100 sq. feet, and will have a reception area, day care area and restrooms. Public Input: Denice VanDoren, 11071 W. Frost Street owner of the building, stated they and are in favor of the space. They have been fussy about the people they want to go in and this is a good addition to the community. They do have a HOA now, this will be good to have this building in use. It will be nice for the complex. The Mayor closed the public hearing. 5|Page Keyes moved to approve Tru Hit Fitness, File #CU-19-01 with the four conditions of approval, Hershey seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Transportation Discussion – The Mayor stated there are two phases of the Transportation discussion tonight. The first part is with Canyon Highway District #4 and asked if there was a representative present to discuss funding and impact fees. Dave Jones, 15435 Highway 44, Caldwell, stated that they have sent correspondence and had workshops discussing the future transportation on the Canyon County side of Star. They did a budget assessment and looked at expenditures and got budget numbers going forward, they go from black to red. They will be declining any projects that are not maintenance projects. They are looking at the State legislation and want to explore options. They are looking to other highway districts and cities to work with. They want fees from the City put in place so it will put them on a level playing field with Ada County Transportation fees being collected from the City. Jones wants a couple things: he is asking number one for the City to develop an impact zone within Canyon County and two, to have the City provide names of people to serve on an impact advisory committee. Jay Gibbons stated he is one of three Commissioners for the Canyon Highway District #4. He wants to affirm they are committed to the impact study and have authorized their study. They want to run now. They do want to move quickly. The County and the Cities are talking about registration fees and that is a great idea putting it on the traffic, but he doesn’t see that happening quickly. That is not the first time Gibbons has seen this type of request sent from ITD. There is a small subdivision (less than 50 homes) farther down the road and ITD asked them the same thing. The interconnecting roads are insufficient in Canyon County and they view the impact fees as a solution. There has got to be improvements to Kingsbury. They want to move as quickly as possible. Keyes stated it is clear to him that Canyon Highway District #4 would like us to increase the level of urgency. Their request came in January and it is now March. Keyes moved to proceed with the request. The Mayor stated that the Council will have that discussion at another time. Keyes requested that we have a full time Planner work with urgency on the Area of Impact towards the west. The Mayor stated we will work on getting people to be on a committee. Nielsen asked about the meetings with the highway district and the plan to widen Highway 44. Chadwick stated that everyone received a copy of the Highway 44 study by ITD. Keyes stated that funding only goes to Star Road. Nickel stated that we have started the discussion on traffic and transportation. Nickel has looked at the plan. Dave Szplett is our Transportation Planner and Mark Butler is working on the Comp Plan, it is important to see what ITD is proposing. Nickel has had discussions about the right-of- way with developers. Nickel, Chadwick, the Mayor and Szplett met with COMPASS today. We have a lot to do and now is the time to do it. 6|Page Nickel asked Szplett to speak to the issues. Dave Spzlett, 970 Ashwood Court, Kuna, stated that the basic issue with ITD is moving traffic. The slide show presentation showed the first graphic which anticipates the signal lights in Star. The main issue interpreted the CFI’s ITD put forth. There are several impacts of these accesses and it takes a significant amount of land. One at Palmer and one at Star Road. The second graphic the corridor study calls for five lanes through Star with sidewalks but no room for bikes and it would have a significant impact on the City. Also, the corridor study talks about an average speed limit of 30 mph through Star. It is signed right now at 25 mph. ITD would maintain normal access. Szplett showed pictures of towns with five lanes through them, there is no room for bike lanes. Mountain Home was shown on US 51 with four lanes with no parking, no access control. Szplett sent Nickel materials from the Smart Growth People and they don’t think it is good plan for Cities for bicycles and pedestrians. They are estimating 25,000 people a day. The last slide is the one issue - the impact to the downtown, we tried to find an easy way to find a route around Star. In COMPASS they have a crossing at Kingsbury Road, it doesn’t exist now. We could divert traffic on Highway 16 to 20/26 and then back down to Kingsbury. Kingsbury becomes an ITD Road and the road through Star is turned over to ACHD. That would involve intersections, the concept would be overlapping by ITD, same designations on the same route. ITD would double sign for two roads. The plans would not be to cut off 44, but not to widen it and move traffic to an alternate route. This would be less controversial and be an alternate route around Star. The alternate route is not part of ITD’s plan, but we want to put it in the Comp Plan. Nickel stated this is an alternative and by giving the road back to ACHD, the City would have more control and let us have our plan for access. Nickel let the audience know about the Comp Plan workshops March 16th 9-12 and 4-7pm and March 18th from 6 pm to 9 pm and all are at LifeSprings Church. Keyes stated he is intrigued, he thought the bypass ship had sailed and this could put something back on the radar and be pretty important to the City. Not sure how the City can help push this forward, but he would be eager to support it. The Mayor stated they presented it to COMPASS today. He believes they are seeing some viability. COMPASS is the regional planner for the City and this is now a regional issue; without commercial access we will push traffic out on the roads. Nickel is positive COMPASS will come through and help us. Hershey thinks this is good and stated if there is any way we can help, we will. It takes things like this to get to where we want to be. Chadwick stated this is just a small portion of the discussion we have been working on. COMPASS will give us 20 days of planning if we request this planning. ITD doesn’t like this plan, but it’s a great concept. It is our way of having a bypass. We are also looking from Palmer west. This will be a long haul, we won’t let off. We need the transportation entities to understand the viability for economic development in Star. Chadwick wants to push back on the 80’ from centerline. Some of this stuff needs to be mitigated now. Need to keep pushing. Chadwick 7|Page stated that ITD is listening. We need to keep pushing for the betterment of the City. The Mayor stated that several businesses have walked away from the hotel site due to ITD. The Mayor stated we do have an ITD roadblock, but we won’t give up. We did invite an ITD Commissioner to come to Star. We will continue to work with ITD. This is the concept we are going to put forward. Reports: Staff: Chief Vogt talked about the river and the rising temperature. With that the river will be rising 500 cfs each day for the next three days. Discussions are happening now about flooding, they will be working on that. Yorgason stated the appeal for Willowbrook has been extended. The start date is either the 9th or 12th and it was signed by the Judge. Council: Hershey stated that Partridge has reported on his items. He will meet with the Fire Commission next week. Keyes stated that he did a ride along with Deputy Speakes. He attended the Chamber Night Out it was a nice night and encouraged the Mayor and Council to attend. He did attend the grand opening at the corner of Star and State at the real estate office. Nielsen stated he has been out of country for the last month. Chadwick stated he has been working on all the stuff for COMPASS. Mayor: The Mayor stated that the litigation for S. Crystal Springs has been signed off. He got to serve on a jury. It was interesting, and it reminded him of what a privilege it was. We did have the TVP meeting last week in Star, it was a good meeting and discussion was on the OPIOD crisis and details on that and what programs the Boise Police are trying to start. Adjournment: The Mayor adjourned the meeting at 9:07 pm. Approved: __________________________ Charlten Bell, Mayor Respectfully submitted: _________________________ Cathy Ward, City Clerk 8|Page