City Council Special Meeting

Star City Council Special Meeting Minutes July 24, 2018 A special meeting of the Star City Council was held on July 24, 2018 at 7:00 pm at LifeSpring Church, 174 N. Star Road, Star, Idaho. Mayor Chad Bell 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 Agenda: Chadwick moved to approve the agenda, Keyes seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. PUBLIC HEARING: Proposed Star Comprehensive Plan Text Amendments and Northerly Expansion - Mayor Bell stated Mark Butler, consultant for the City, would be making the presentation tonight and reminded everyone that tonight's public hearing was for the comprehensive plan and the northerly expansion map, not for any single application such as the Willowbrook Development, and asked that all comments be limited to the agenda item. The Mayor reviewed the procedure for public hearing. We will have a presentation by the applicant, staff comments, Council questions, move to public input (limiting speaking to 3 minutes), hear applicant rebuttal, then close the public hearing and move to deliberations. The Mayor asked the Council for any ex parte contact or conflicts of interest, hearing none the Mayor declared the public hearing open and turned the meeting over to Mark Butler. Mark Butler, stated tonight they are looking at an assortment of amendments to the current comprehensive plan and a proposed map of the northerly expansion. He reviewed the screen presentation for the proposed text amendments and northerly expansion. He reviewed the comp plan timeline noting the April 11, 2018 amendment packet included changes based upon public comment, but he had not changed the map. Regarding the June 11, 2018 meeting with transportation agencies he informed them ACHD would not make recommendations unless we have a licensed traffic engineer do a plan. He recommended the City will need to hire one to work with Dave Szplett. On July 12, 2018 the workshop results and recommendation provided to the Mayor and Council included comments from the two workshops and citizens’ concerns; as well as Butler’s recommendations. On July 18, 2018 he provided Council with an addendum to the July 12, 2018 comments which added a component for agriculture and airports. For clarity Butler read page two explaining what this Comprehensive Plan did not do and reiterated the plan is a general plan. He noted the proposed map has not changed from the original one presented April 19, 2018. The transportation corridor plan has been revised since the last meeting in regard that the Purple Sage connection now matches COMPASS. Butler stated he has made copies of the proposed amendments for citizens to review tonight and noted it had been raised that four of the seventeen components required by Idaho Statue may be missing and they are agriculture, implementation, national interest electric transmission corridors and public airport facilities. He stated the text amendments proposed in the July 12, 2018 report address the agriculture, implementation and national interest electric transmission corridors. The July 18, 2018 addendum is recommended to make the plan stronger for agriculture and airports, stating no public airport is planned for this planning area. Butler recommended either adopting the April 19, 2018 land use map amendment and the June 11, 2018 transportation corridor plan or preferably tabling the expansion of the land use map and the corridor plan, so it will become a part of the upcoming comprehensive plan update and that a licensed transportation engineer should be hired. He recommended approving the text amendments as proposed to include the two missing components and to fortify the two others; this recommendation is the result of comments from the community. He expressed the importance of getting input from the community which is very diverse, and he felt they should spend more time on the land use map. Council – Hershey asked if he understood correctly that ACHD will not comment until the City hires a licensed transportation engineer. Butler stated that was correct and that he felt it was a good idea. Nielsen stated in regard to the missing components, he was looking at Idaho Code 67-6508 item “L” and this may be an item that is potentially missing from our plan; and read the section out loud. He noted our plan addresses manufactured homes but not mobile homes and asked Butler to address. Butler stated he didn’t realize mobile homes were not included in that section and would find the section in the comp plan where it needs to be added. Nielsen asked legal counsel if this was something they could add tonight or was it something they needed to come back and visit. Chris Yorgason, legal counsel for the City, stated he's not sure how it needs to be put in. It is hard to find a mobile home; manufactured homes are every place and it’s required they be allowed to be put into regular subdivisions by State statute and code. Mobile homes themselves usually are in mobile home parks, and there are some in Star, but they don't necessarily make them anymore. If they're just adding language that says manufactured homes and mobile homes, and includes mobile home parks, they can probably do that tonight. If it’s to clarify the existing code as to where things go then it would be okay to add. If it’s going to be a major or material change to the code and your telling somebody it might impact their property, then it may need to be tabled. Nielsen stated his major concern was they are trying to address deficiencies and if this is a technical deficiency it may need to be tabled. Butler suggested if they wanted to add the language they could approve the text amendments and add the text from 67-6508(L). Ultimately, it will all come back to them with a resolution and they can adopt it along with the text amendments by the resolution. Yorgason stated he was comfortable with that suggestion. It will depend on how the language was; whether it was a clerical error rather than a significant planning issue. If Council feels it is a major component it may need to go back to public hearing on where that text amendment needs to be. Nielsen stated he didn't believe anyone is looking for mobile homes in their subdivision, but if they are looking for technical deficiencies perhaps they could just reference the code section in the comp plan, possibly adding it to the motion. Keyes asked about the modification of section 6.1.1 State Highways in that it says ITD has not funded for any major corridors in reference to Highway 44 and 16. He believes they have provided funding for widening Highway 44 between Linder Road and Star Road around 2023. Dave Szplett, Transportation Consultant, stated Keyes was correct regarding Highway 44, but the 2023 funding is for engineering and not for construction. Keyes stated their report states they have funding for construction as well. Szplett stated he will check it out on-line immediately. Keyes noted once he verified the information they may need to amend this section. Keyes noted the second paragraph states funding for Highway 16 has already been allocated for preliminary engineering and he believed the funding is for pre-engineering which is different. Szplett stated they can change the wording. The Mayor asked Yorgason if he had anything to add. Yorgason stated he had been researching mobile homes and there's a group out of Washington that provide guidance similar to our AIC and their comments are that mobile homes are not even built anymore. Section L was adopted in the 1990’s and the legislature has never gone back and changed it. No City would ever try to disallow mobile homes. The language may be old, but he will keep looking and he will work with Butler on wording. Public Input – Steve Givens, 22445 CanAda Road, Star, Idaho stated they simply did not want to be a part of the comp plan. As they have testified previously they simply don't want to be a part of anything. Kim Sullivan, 5780 N. High Hill Place, Star, Idaho noted the proposal talks about adding new policy number 15 which encourages the public outside the city limits, like herself, to provide input to the Council at these meetings but she doesn’t feel their comments are taken into consideration. She is concerned because without having a comprehensive plan in place and after hearing testimony against it, Council voted to annex property that they are not prepared to manage. She stated Councilman Keyes has stated he represents the city of Star and she doesn’t feel he will consider outside comments. There are many who want to work with the City on this plan. From Councilman Keyes comments on social media that this meeting was for the comprehensive plan and no testimony will be allowed for anything else, she felt like her right to talk had been taken away and that the City did not want to work with the outside community. If the City does not want to work with all of the homeowners in this process and actually consider what they have to say as stated in policy 15, then she asked they please just leave them alone. JoAnn Butler, 251 E. Front Street, Boise, Idaho stated she was for the progress that has been made to date. She noted the information has not gotten to the highway districts so that one element has not been met. They have been provided with information from the code that states the traffic analysis has to be prepared in coordination with your local highway jurisdictions. It talks it about in that letter that there needs to be additional meetings. There needs to be more meetings because those agencies are charged with protecting the public health. She stated ACHD provided two letters that stated they attended one meeting in April and they have requested the City hire a licensed traffic engineer to do a transportation analysis so proper transportation can be planned, and without this information they are unable to provide additional comments. Without this being done, she stated neither the agencies nor the City could protect the public health and safety with this one element. Butler asked the Council to take their time, knowing it is not quick, nor easy and can be expensive but it is state mandated that you provide planning. She provided Council with copies of legislation (67-6508(i)) pertaining to transportation studies for comprehensive plans. She noted housing, school, and economic analysis’s also need to be done. She stated low cost housing also needed to be addressed for good guidance. Chris Todd, 10497 W. Deep Canyon Drive, Star, Idaho stated he concurred there needs to be more community involvement. There should be more ways to include the public, possibly by more workshops and open houses. He wondered if outside agencies could be at the open houses, possibly set up like a trade show, and there be an open format. Possibly the Council could be involved in the open houses. He stated transportation is a big concern, especially the Purple Sage to Beacon Light connection. He expressed concern with the transportation map aligning with COMPASS maps. He would like to see added to the code dark sky building codes to the rural areas to reduce sky pollution; it's a quality of life thing. He wondered if there might be more verbiage for walkways and trails, especially for developers developing. They could possibly adopt some of the Transportation Committees recommendations. Todd asked if there might be more verbiage for wildlife and habitat, possibly a wildlife action plan. Such a plan could allow the City to go after grant money which could make projects bigger and better. Pat McDowell, 4865 N. High Prairie, Star, Idaho stated he realized what the Mayor said about commenting only on tonight's topic, but since the representative for Willowbrook was allowed to present tonight he felt this opened the discussion up to include Willowbrook. Butler informed McDowell he did work for Willowbrook and Mayor Bell explained Butler was a consultant for the City not a representative for Willowbrook. McDowell apologized for his misunderstanding and stated this expansion deals with growth and we don't want growth. We want our rural setting with farm ground. This expansion will cause developers to come in and develop and create transportation problems. Constituents do not want this and he asked them to keep those people in mind. Michael Traficante, 301 S. Selwood Way, Star, Idaho stated that when it comes to tabling this, this is just the start of the process and the Council can condition it as they see fit. The majority of the constituents have asked the Council to get some kind of plan done as they felt the comp plan was incomplete. This is only the start of the process and realizes it could be eight or nine months before it is complete. Transportation studies have to be done, as well as the comprehensive map. He agrees with Mr. Butler that if they table this to accommodate ACHD for not getting their information ahead of time, they all know you are going to have a comprehensive traffic study done before anything can be built. They can't control where people come from or where they go. He stated he felt drawing out the planning process is good for small town planning. He encouraged the Council to pass as they see conditioned. Council will be continuing with the planning process and transportation studies will be done with development coming. Rebuttal – Butler stated Section 3.2.10 of the current plan talks about affordable housing and before that it talks about mobile homes, mobile home parks and has a section 67-6502 regarding private property rights while accommodating other types of housing including affordable housing. So there is some language in there and he recommended adding language that they look to 67-6508(L) for guidance in regard to affordable housing. Regarding the concern the Council doesn’t listen to comments, he noted they have listened to the public, though they may not like what Council had to say. Council is working on expanding the comp plan and has hired him to work on it. He has tried to meet with the community and has made recommendations to the Council from these comments from the public. Butler agreed with Todd’s comments, updating language on trails, walkways, lighting, wild life, mixed use zoning; there are all kinds of things that need updated. You need to focus on where you are today. Be sure when Council leaves here today they have recommendations that make this plan viable. It's not wise to have to add all kinds of other things that may make a situation where major changes will need to be done. Butler recommended they adopt the text changes with the addition of the mobile home wording. He noted he is planning to meet with different neighborhoods to gain more input. He has broken the area up into nine or ten neighborhoods, such as Middleton, Hillsdale and the Chinden bench area. Dave Szplett stated he wasn't sure how to answer Keyes question as the current Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) expires at the end of the month. The draft STIP has the widening project for Highway 44 in it, but the comment period does not end until the end of the month. So he suggested they could change the text to say it is in the draft stage. Per Butler's request Szplett explained STIP is ITD's working program for improvements. So Councilman Keyes is right it is in STIP, but the comment period doesn't end until the end of the month. So by the time they get to the task they should know for sure. Keyes noted Butler recommended they move forward with the text amendment plan and they should hire a licensed transportation professional. He asked Butler if there were other professionals they should have engaged that are not on City staff. Butler stated he will tap into other professionals for information. There are other public agencies that will work with him. But he must have support from the City’s engineering firm. Keller Associates is also the engineers for the Star Sewer and Water District and when he comes forward with a plan he needs a plan that will show where the pipes are going to be. He will need some civil engineering concept plans showing where the utilities are expected to be. Szplett can crunch the numbers. Other than a licensed transportation engineer and a civil engineer he did not know who else they would need. The City has an engineering firm; we just need to make sure they will return his calls. Chadwick asked if he understood correctly that Butler was not getting cooperation from Keller Associates. Did they need to step in and force their hand? Butler stated all he needed was for the Mayor to call Keller Associates and give them permission to speak with him. Chadwick asked about the language in the text, that some should be approved and some should not be approved unless they approve the map. Butler stated everything in bold in the July 12, 2018 letter should not be approved if they don't approve the map, but do approve the bold text regarding agricultural in the July 18, 2018 addendum. Mayor Bell closed the public hearing and moved to deliberations. Mayor Bell explained the decision before them is to approve the text amendments only, approve the text and map amendments, can table one or both, or can deny both. Recommendation from staff is that they approve the text amendments and table the map as it is just for the northly expansion area. They are continuing to work on updating the comp plan and the map should be updated at the same time. It is estimated the process for updating the entire comprehensive plan will take six to nine months. Chadwick stated he was all for tabling the map amendment. He still feels the property previously discussed should be R1 or R2 and they should be looking at some more variety of land uses, such as farm ground of two or three-acre partials. He believes they need to have a licensed transportation engineer involved in the planning process. He stated he agrees with Todd that they need to look at reducing the light pollution if we are going to be building in the northern area. He stated they need to have the plan updated and need to follow through with what Butler has been talking about. Chadwick stated he believes they should approve the text amendments and what Nielsen found regarding mobile homes. Keyes stated he supported the statements Chadwick made and with testimony presented tonight they should proceed with updating the plan. He also felt they should authorize the planner access to other professionals. He is in support of approving the text amendments to bring our comp plan up to being legal and to not approving the map. Hershey stated he feels the map needs some work. He noted the westerly area overlaps with Middleton's planning area, but in the grand scheme of things felt it is appropriate to plan for the area; property owners can then decide what they want to do. He stated he also agrees with approving the text amendments and referencing code 67-6508(L). Chadwick asked if they can legally interact more with the community. Perhaps each councilman would take an area and meet with the citizens in that area, thus not creating a quorum situation. Butler explained that through this process he has been meeting with the Mayor, the public, and agencies and then meeting with the Council sharing comments. This keeps the Council involved and then when complete a public hearing is held. Chadwick asked if the law allows them to have actual interaction with citizens. Butler stated he believes the comp plan is a legislative matter and would love to have everyone involved, but his concern is they have an application coming before them for a large parcel of property and by them meeting informally with the public there is too much of a chance for creating a conflict. Yorgason expressed concern with anything with public hearings attached to it. The hard part of having Council meet informally with the community without having everyone present is when they do meet they will need to declare who they talked to, what was discussed and state what each said. When several meet together they need to be aware of posting meeting rules. If they meet as a single councilman meeting with a group there has to be a mechanism where you share information. They need to be careful and be sure they are following all the steps. Yorgason stated there is value in holding informal meetings as Butler discussed. Chadwick ask how could they reach out to more people, get more input from the citizens who don't necessarily want to speak up in public. Butler stated he is working on public outreach and plans on holding community meetings, having sandwich signage saying we’re having workshops, having surveys are a good idea. There have been many other comp plans done and he will look at stealing ideas from them; no need to reinvent the wheel. Chadwick stated he would like to see more input from the community as a whole on this plan. Nielsen stated he was in agreement with the other Councilmen's comments and didn't need to restate them. Nielsen moved to approve the text amendment with the two missing components, with Section 3.2.10 to read with Idaho Code 67-6508(L) for guidance for affordable housing; accepting all items in the report dated July 12, 2018, except for the items in bold, and everything in the July 18, 2018 addendum. Yorgason asked if they wanted anything in motion regarding the map or did they want to do a separate motion. Nielsen stated he would do a separate motion. Chadwick seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Nielsen questioned whether they should deny the map or table to a specific date. Yorgason stated they could remand it back to staff. If they do a date specific then they don’t have to do hearing notices, but if they remand back to staff you will just have to re-notice. Nielsen state he felt they were not far enough along to include it with the update plan. Butler asked for clarification for the public if they could say remanded back to staff to be included in the overall comp plan update. He felt that would be worthwhile if that was their goal. Otherwise they might be wondering when will the northerly expansion be coming back. Nielsen moved to remand the map back to staff for consideration with the overall comp plan update, Keyes seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Adjournment: Mayor Bell adjourned the meeting at 8:20 pm. Approved: Respectfully submitted: __________________________ Charlten Bell, Mayor _____________________________ Kathleen Hutton, Deputy City Clerk