Municipal Infrastructure Commission

10/10/2019 - Minutes I. Call to Order Members Present: Laura Dlugolecki, Corey Mack, Chris Page, Jason Williams, Timur Tsutsuk, Peter Wernsdorfer City Staff Present: Jon Rauscher Guests Present: None Call to Order by: Laura Dlugolecki Minutes Recorded by: Chris Page II. Public Comment None III. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Decision: Approved Motion by: Corey Mack Second: Chris Page IV. Public Works Department Overview Discussion about orientation event: l Talked about expectations, commission role l City Staff is in charge of Operations, Implementation l Council: Policy Makers l Commissions act as extension arms of Council (i.e. policy-making) l Main roles: Attend meetings, prepare, participate, provide input, vote as needed, adhere to open meeting laws (make sure to ask questions about this if any arise), conflict of interest considerations. l Can help to push/present ideas that we hear from elsewhere in the city; we are encouraged to talk to our neighbors and other community members… provide well-informed input informed by professional expertise… l Need to develop a work plan to guide future work. Public Works Overview: l Deputy Director (above-ground), City Engineer (day-to-day on capital projects), and Utility Manager (underground); occasionally also working managers. l Equipment Operator I thru III; fleet manager; foreman, CDL, no CDL; distribution system mgmt, etc. Small staff, but gets a lot done. l City Budget: General Fund ($1.2M to Public Works), from property tax; Water, Wastewater, and Parking Fund (separate, specific revenue source, paid by bills, etc.); Staff is mixed btw all of those funds. l Commission Roles and Responsibiliites: Attend commission meetings, arrange for coverage if needed; be prepared for, participate; vote (or abstain, if conflict of interest); adhere to conflict of interest/open meeting req’ts… generally, working on high-level policy issues l Guiding Documents, all available on website: 2019 City Masterplan, including: 2014 Main Street Corridor, 2017 Transportation Master, 2017 Parking Plan; Also, 2016 Water Distribution System, Operational Studies (Phos control), CCRPC Scoping Studies (East Allen, i.e.); CCRPC is a major resource, planning, transportation ,water; CCRPC scoping studies, CCRPC kicks in 80% of cost (!!), City 20%. Scoping studies become the basis of design moving forward. l Council and Staff Annual Priorities; The priority list becomes the DPW work plan for the year, along with quarterly updates to Council re: goals/progress. Based on what council and staff want to see done. Good measurement tool. Aligned to Master Plan (high-level goals). Priorities can dig deeper into accomplish priorities. l Current Projects: ~5.5M in construction work going on Summer 2019; Hickock Water Main, Myers Pool, WWTF Headworks, Pine Grove, Annual resurfacing work… l Projects in Dev: Hickock St, Main Street, Lot 7D (corner of Abenaki Way and Winooski Falls); last easily developable lot in TIF district). l Hickock: Going well, water work to be completed by mid-November; working on West Lane currently… Temp pavement work once West Lane is complete, permanent pvmt work next 2020. l Pool: Expanded community bldg well under construction; they have begun pouring slabs for the two pools (partially poured now); Pool  CCRPC is a major resource, planning, transportation ,water; CCRPC scoping studies, CCRPC kicks in 80% of cost (!!), City 20%. Scoping studies become the basis of design moving forward. l Council and Staff Annual Priorities; The priority list becomes the DPW work plan for the year, along with quarterly updates to Council re: goals/progress. Based on what council and staff want to see done. Good measurement tool. Aligned to Master Plan (high-level goals). Priorities can dig deeper into accomplish priorities. l Current Projects: ~5.5M in construction work going on Summer 2019; Hickock Water Main, Myers Pool, WWTF Headworks, Pine Grove, Annual resurfacing work… l Projects in Dev: Hickock St, Main Street, Lot 7D (corner of Abenaki Way and Winooski Falls); last easily developable lot in TIF district). l Hickock: Going well, water work to be completed by mid-November; working on West Lane currently… Temp pavement work once West Lane is complete, permanent pvmt work next 2020. l Pool: Expanded community bldg well under construction; they have begun pouring slabs for the two pools (partially poured now); Pool building to be finished by Dec/Jan, pool wrapped up in Spring… winter work (finish work) in bldg. Russell has been excellent. l Headworks Project: Headworks are the initial cleaning process for the sewer systme, collecting the larger inorganics (big stuff)… mechanical fine screen and grit removal system to replace archaic system. Grit not getting in pumps, saving room in aeration system by keeping inorganics out. Mid-to-Late November for Equipment installation; structure will be finished. No pump station for sewer in Winooski; all gravity-fed. l Pine Grove Terrace Stormwater Improvements; Stormwater retention pond outdated construction (not up-to-date with regulatory requirements); Upgrade sot pond and volume expansion; higher level of cleanup on Morehouse brook required (high sediment/turbidity issues); must meet specified flow and sediment removal requirements. Idea is to expand existing pond… Colchester is partially paying (10%), and $103K grant from DEC (50% of total cost). Located at the very end of Pine Grove Terrace, all the way at end of cul-de-sac. Long-term maintenance plan? Operationally (vactor truck) should be able to stay clean; long-term maintenance mostly mowing and keep trees for growing; phosphorus credit thanks to bioretention basin (TMDL program). Bioretention basin consists of a concrete bumpout with rocks/subsurface media/underdrain that feeds stream. l Main Street Revitalization: Final design underway now with VHB; as plans progress, they will be presented to commission. l Garage and Hotel Project: will hit next year (2020); combined structure? RFPs coming in from a couple developers, will go to Council in November. Parking structure (revised) would fill the whole lot w/ street elevation and now internal ramping; three levels of parking; no interior circulation of traffic; hotel would be set on top of that with some corner access. We own the lot, but would potentially sell to developer. Planning Commission would need to weigh in (design changes, first iteration/design was a no-go because VT Hotel Group backed out). Council approves permit for downtown development, but can request feedback from PC. Ideas to preserve access to 100- acre wood. l We are also the Acting Tree Commission. The City didn’t have a tree commission or active tree program; talk of forming tree commission and get Winooski named a Tree City USA… because of income, grants come along with attaining Tree City USA status. Couple of criteria: 1) have a tree committee 2) have a tree ordinance 3) do a tree survey annually 4) have an Arbor Day party! Tree ordinance was passed, Arbor Day celebs for past 2 yrs, 4 years of tree inventories done… all an effort to achieve designation. Councilor Duncan took lead with Tree Commission, but cannot now that he's on Council and there is no current leader… hope is to keep it alive under our purview. What support might be needed fro mCommission for Tree City USA? Arbor Day planning? Inventory? Administrative pieces (applications), thinking about where trees should be planted. Really for City Trees; no jurisdiction over trees on private property. Public Hearings would be hosted by MIC for tree removal (esp if tree is healthy). Tree Maintenance Policy also needs to be in place… routine alert system, etc. l Review of Ordinances, etc.; review draft ordinances, provide feedback, etc. V. Municipal Infrastructure Commission Work Planning Reviewed Work Plan for Planning Commission John’s recommendations: l Transportation Impact Fee; RSG is the consultant, thru CCRPC; preliminary report is out. Would be really helpful to get evaluation and recommendation. Corey on Impact Fees: l Tool to charge developers on impacts to transportration ,stormwater, etc. To recoup cost of impacts of new development, but can only do that if policy in place prior to project construction. It behooves the city to have this impact fee in place so that we can leverage. l VTRANS has a statewide impact fee system (say, thru Act250)… l Coordination to only do things once! l No charter change required for impact fees; an ordinance; enabling legislation at the State level, but you need a local ordinance formed under enabling legislation. l Spend $24M on something we really need to do, but if you don’t have a mean sto recoup, you just subsidize development… You can utilize this ordinance to assess other impact fees… geared towards commercial development, not really focused. l Just about every Chittenden County town has some form of impact fees in place, with varying efficacy. l Jon: How do you calculate added capacity? Can include pedestrians… l Creating new access/intersections, signalized intersections; want to target that, or else city ends up being on hook for developer… Developer incurs fee up-front ,one-time payment; depending on total amt of fee, fee may be levied over time rather than all at once. l Developers will come in and be upset, so best for Commission to review. Current Stormwater work: CCRPC stormwater inspection/condition rating… could play into eventual Stormwater Utility… get the ideas for a needs assessment, etc. Stormwater Utility could be a good thing to dig into. l Difficulty with splitting stormwater and sewer/water… time distribution/funding… Approach to Work Plan: l Planning Commission pulled out what their role should be. Let’s think of a couple ideas and draft some language about what should be in the work plan. l Looking at the priorities… which ones apply to Commission? Where could we provide input? Not many scoping studies. l Upgrades to existing sidewalks; definite opportunity for input here. Is there a pavement condition index? Yes! There is… down to a ¼”. Inventory was done, calculated ~$26 Mil in concrete in the sidewalks altogether (asset valuation); really more like $32 Mil. Burlingotn is on a 100-year schedule for sidewalk replacement. We curently do NOT have a schedule… could use input. Different cities use different techniques…. Also depends on ownership considerations, City owns sidewalks in Winooski… Would be helpful to create a prioritization schedule… we have GIS data… Look at it holistically with other work, say, water main or other road improvements. Could make a case for sidewalk replacement… methods to partial fix (say, partial jacking of slabs; can be done in house?)… leveling and crowning, say. l Spot repairs to sidewalks; housing authority will give alerts, a couple flights get repaired, asphalt transition fixes, etc… can grind sidewalk edges to be smooth; spot grades can be done in-house without. Replacement vs. Repair; concrete work is something that our existing staff enjoys and is capable of doing. l So: Transportation Impact Fee, Sidewalk Upgrades, Tree City USA, Secondary items in work plan… Industrial Wastewater Permit Idea (is there a role for us?; could be run by/thru us); Rate Structure that goes with Indus/High Strength WW… W&S is involved in this, ordinance language and rate structure… we will review ordinance language. Blowers replaced recently (75 and 100 HP hybrid) at WWTP… increases Oxygen; input on Main Street; anything ordinance-related. Corey: any desire to bring on outside consultants to review development plans? Say, East Allen Street, other people/eyes, a mechanism to hire on consultants and put that cost toward developers… lot of cities have ordinances in place to do that (i.e. requiring transportation work to do the overview work); pedestrian improvements (crosswalk enhancements); see Transportation Master Plan… East Allen Scoping Study, but that is another piece that we could be referring to and prioritizing if there is any low-hanging fruit that could be realistically implemented. Also, Standards and Specifications,  sidewalk replacement… methods to partial fix (say, partial jacking of slabs; can be done in house?)… leveling and crowning, say. l Spot repairs to sidewalks; housing authority will give alerts, a couple flights get repaired, asphalt transition fixes, etc… can grind sidewalk edges to be smooth; spot grades can be done in-house without. Replacement vs. Repair; concrete work is something that our existing staff enjoys and is capable of doing. l So: Transportation Impact Fee, Sidewalk Upgrades, Tree City USA, Secondary items in work plan… Industrial Wastewater Permit Idea (is there a role for us?; could be run by/thru us); Rate Structure that goes with Indus/High Strength WW… W&S is involved in this, ordinance language and rate structure… we will review ordinance language. Blowers replaced recently (75 and 100 HP hybrid) at WWTP… increases Oxygen; input on Main Street; anything ordinance-related. Corey: any desire to bring on outside consultants to review development plans? Say, East Allen Street, other people/eyes, a mechanism to hire on consultants and put that cost toward developers… lot of cities have ordinances in place to do that (i.e. requiring transportation work to do the overview work); pedestrian improvements (crosswalk enhancements); see Transportation Master Plan… East Allen Scoping Study, but that is another piece that we could be referring to and prioritizing if there is any low-hanging fruit that could be realistically implemented. Also, Standards and Specifications, update, review; should get to this Winter, we’ll have some input. l Third party review of plans could be covered by developers; developer should have to foot that bill as part of application/permitting process. Laura will write a description (briefly) for each of the items we’ve touched on, and then we can discuss and Jon will help us to prioritize/pare down. Laura will share before next meeting so we can review in advance of next meeting. We also need to officially assign roles next time! Also, maybe we can change date? VI. Adjourn Motion by: Jason Second: Corey Time: 8 PM