District 3 Advisory Board

District III Advisory Board Minutes for Nov. 6, 2013 District III Advisory Board Minutes Dec. 4, 2013 www.wichita.gov The District III Advisory Board meeting was held at 6:30 p.m. at the Wichita Water Center at 101 E Pawnee; Council Member Clendenin, eight District Advisory Board members; five City staff and nine members of the public were present. Members Present David Robbins Eric Bell Jody Bennett Staff Present Terry Brewster Dale Miller, MAPD Paul Davis Mike Armour, Public Works Engineering Elena Ingle Paul Gunzelman, Public Works, Engineering Danny Johnson Gary Janzen, Public Works Engineering Wendy Ratliff Janet Johnson, Neighborhood Services Connie White Council Member James Clendenin Guests Listed on last page Members Absent Marjorie Griffith ORDER OF BUSINESS At 6:30 p.m. Council Member Clendenin called the meeting to order. Minutes from the Nov. 6, 2013, meeting were approved. PUBLIC AGENDA Scheduled items Office of Community Engagement. Council Member Clendenin congratulated Janet Johnson on her new position as the supervisor for the Office of Community Engagement and thanked her for her service to District III. He also explained Neighborhood Services had to be redesigned due to significant Federal cuts in funding. NEW BUSINESS Mead Corridor Consolidation - UPRR Mike Armour, Public Works Engineering, presented information on a trial closure of two railroad crossings. The Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) mainline track runs adjacent to Mead Street between Lincoln and Pawnee. The 12 at-grade railroad crossings along the Mead corridor between Lincoln and Pawnee make it one of densest corridors in the city of Wichita. Repetitive crossings like this increase risk, maintenance costs, signal problems, and noise concerns (train horns). The proposal involves closing Boston and Clark to through traffic at the railroad tracks near Mead. These crossings were selected due to low traffic volumes, low impact on local commercial traffic, and the high cost of upgrading the crossing at Clark if it remains open. Permanent closures would involve installation of barricades at the railroad tracks at Boston and Clark, removal of the gates and signal cabin at Boston, and removal of the cross bucks at Clark. Some grading may be performed on approaches. Mead would remain open. Traffic would still have access to adjacent crossings with little or no additional length to current trips. There would be no cost to the City; all costs will be paid for, or reimbursed by, UPRR. DAB? How many trains go through there per day? A: Six or seven. DAB? Explain the safety issue. A: The more crossings you have the higher the odds are of an accident. 1  District III Advisory Board Minutes for Nov. 6, 2013 Citizen? Would it be possible to make this a quiet zone? A: There are only two ways to get a quiet zone – one is to install a median (which isn’t possible here) and the other is to compare each crossing to the national average of risk, and that has to be done on a yearly basis. DAB? Are there figures on incidents that have occurred at the crossings, and does the City have to pay anything in regard to the crossings? A: Over the past few years, there have been two incidents at the Clark crossings. The City is responsible for maintaining the approaches to the railroad crossings. The most recent work occurred at K-15 and Wassall after the railroad made some adjustments to the track. The City paid about $2,000 to make repairs to the approach. Motion: Elena Ingle (Connie White (Fox) made a motion to recommend approval subject to platting and having their parking in compliance with the UZC within a year of approval of the governing body. Action: Motion passed 8-0. ZON2013-00034 and CON2013-00030 Wrecking and salvage 1200 East MacArthur Road Dale Miller, MAPD, presented the request. The property is platted as the Wilson & Brown 2nd Addition, and is currently occupied by Auto Recyclers of Kansas, which appears to be engaged in “wrecking and salvage” activity. The first approximately 55 feet of the application area is zoned SF-5 Single-family Residential (SF-5); the remaining approximately 389 feet of the property is zoned GC General Commercial (GC). The applicant is requesting LI Limited Industrial (LI) zoning and “conditional use” approval to permit “wrecking and salvage.” The reason given by the applicant for the current application is an intention to build a canopy next to the existing building that fronts East MacArthur. See the attached site plan which depicts the existing building and the proposed canopy. The existing building and proposed canopy will be used to support the site’s existing “wrecking and salvage” operation. The site plan also indicates the applicant leases property for his business activities from the property owner located to the east. Existing fencing is shown on the site plan as are 17 parking spaces. DAB members were concerned about the environmental impact of additional salvaging in close proximity to the river. One DAB member with knowledge about the process pointed out that the request was simply to build a canopy which would actually protect the dismantling area and should prove to be an environmental improvement. Paul Davis (Johnson) made a motion to recommend that the request be approved. Action: Motion passed 8-0. Meeting was adjourned. The next meeting for District Advisory Board III will be held at 6:30 p.m., Jan. 8, 2014, at the Water Center at 101 E. Pawnee. Respectfully submitted, Janet Johnson, Neighborhood Assistant – District III Guests Gail Martinson Will Clevenger Vaughn Fox Shane Schumacher Lonnie Wright Harold Lude Teresa Cook Linda Wear Bruce Gass 2