Municipal Infrastructure Commission

5/28/2020 - Minutes I. Call to Order Members Present: Laura Dlugolecki, Christopher Page, Jason Williams, Peter Wernsdorfer, Corey Mack, Timur Tsuktsuk, Mike Myers City Staff Present: Jon Rauscher, Paul Sarne Guests Present: Greg Dixson, Joe Gamache, Dave Carter, Sarah van Ryckevorsel Call to Order by: Laura Dlugolecki Meeting Start Time: 6:31 PM Minutes Recorded by: Chris Page II. Public Comment Dave Carter, brief presentation for Mansion Street. Coordinating for sharing documents re: Mansion Street. Sarah: Will incorporate her question in the Mansion Street item. III. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Decision: Approved Motion by: Corey Second: Timur Approving previous minutes; Jason is abstaining because he was not there. IV. Department and City Updates COVID updates l Check out Winooski website for COVID updates. Most recent info, etc. l May 18, council approved emergency resolution that helps to ease financial impacts; i.e. May 15 util bills delayed to June 15. l Tax impacts, late payment fee waivers, etc. on the website with documentation. l As of right now, as we close out FY 2020 at the end of June, City finances are looking OK. Water/Sewer revenues are a little low at 86%, but general revenues (98%) are quite good. Delay in billing may account for Water/Sewer. l On-street parking has taken the biggest hit, only 64-70% revenue for FY 2020. l Parking enforcement not occurring because of COVID. This is the most significant change in revenue stream. l City Hall Staff: basically working remotely, except for clerks that have to be present for land records review, etc. Email contact for city employees works best.  (98%) are quite good. Delay in billing may account for Water/Sewer. l On-street parking has taken the biggest hit, only 64-70% revenue for FY 2020. l Parking enforcement not occurring because of COVID. This is the most significant change in revenue stream. l City Hall Staff: basically working remotely, except for clerks that have to be present for land records review, etc. Email contact for city employees works best. l City Manager/Mayor Town Hall. DPW-specific impacts l Behind in daily operations… impacts to staffing:Two voluntary furloughs, one reduced-hour, Only essential personnel allowed to work… street crew reduced. l Currently, full staff is working in the field… catching up w/ line striping, etc. - Some delays, but good shot at catching up. Project impacts Myers Pool l Myers Pool, currently in construction, has the greatest impacts from COVID. l Presentation to council on 5/29 re: schedule and current impacts are. l Project went on hold 3/25 for exec. Order, losing approx. 2 months of work. l Contractor has been phasing in subcontractors/workers as ACCD guidelines allow, but expected June 5 completion date is currently delayed instead for mid- August. l Recommendation not to open this season… insufficient time for training… potentially < 4 wks of actual use. l Doesn’t make much logistic sense per staffing, etc. to open then almost immediately close. l Still planning to be ‘substantially complete’ Project impacts: Hickock Street l Expecting bids back June 1, with construction beginning in July for the project. l Everything is being done remotely, bids are challenging. Main Street l Still in the final design page, no delays so far. l 90% design documents currently under review. l Update to council on June 15: schedule, cost estimates, progress update. l Call today w/ landscape architect re: streetscape palette; would like to meet again at our following MIC meeting for feedback on current streetscape design. Parking garage/hotel/office space l Continues to move along. l Partnership with Nedde project. l Act 250 application filed. l If permits/bidding fall into place, Fall 2020 build. l Design will be reviewed on June 15 mtg; sneak preview was given to Council in mid-May. Small projects l Paving… pending Hickock Street bids. l Storm sewer inspection work w/ CCRPC folks. Small projects l Paving… pending Hickock Street bids. l Storm sewer inspection work w/ CCRPC folks. Generally, trying to return to normal while maintaining remote work. Projects are still moving along. Jason: What is the budget impact on the pool? Jon: We are actually saving $50K by not running it this season (based on conservative revenues). Revenues from the pool do not cover costs of expenses from that modeling, so we would be up by not opening. Corey: If we delay the opening of the pool, does that have any impact on warranties/equipment/etc.? Jon: That was a topic of the pool meeting earlier today. In order to do “substantial completion”, we will need to fill up the pool and inspect it… no runtime to confirm everything is sorted out. Extended warranties from vendors? Still sorting this out. Peter: When you say we net $50K up, is that avoidance of cost? Are they general obligation bonds, not enterprise funds? Jon: $50K is just operations, does not include debt service. Mike: Warranty question: warranty based on completion of pool. Warranty should start from August on. Jon: Apparently it’s case-by-case… pool liner under different warranty conditions vs. mechanical, etc. Mike: there should also be run-time; the pool will need to run for an appropriate amount of time to make sure everything is worked out. Pool would be open but closed to the public during this time, and would need to run in order to dial in. So some of that $50K savings might be less, since some level of operation will be needed. Will those savings be applied to future operating costs? Jon: Not a dedicated fund, money comes from the general fund. We are starting to stash away some amount of money ($20K in FY2021) for reserve $ for future replacements/etc. Peter: Winterizing the pool will also eat up some $50K in costs, too. Doesn’t appear to be much around it. Mike: Also, strict maintenance program in place as a brand new product. City will have to follow this program, and to satisfy warranty requirements. Jon: That $50K does assume a run-time and has the winterization costs built-in. Corey: Hickock reconstruction: curb and sidewalk reconstruction with water line? Jon: Scope of project this season is sewer (lined sanitary sewer) w/ some point repairs, then full road reconstruction from Pine to Elm, new curbing, new sidewalk in kind. Mill and fill for Pine to West Lane and including West Lane, sliplining that sewer. Corey: Similar work on St. Peter, just replaced curbs as-built, curb transitions did not meet ADA compliance… Let's follow the latest ADA guidelines on Hickock. And would be great  Jon: Scope of project this season is sewer (lined sanitary sewer) w/ some point repairs, then full road reconstruction from Pine to Elm, new curbing, new sidewalk in kind. Mill and fill for Pine to West Lane and including West Lane, sliplining that sewer. Corey: Similar work on St. Peter, just replaced curbs as-built, curb transitions did not meet ADA compliance… Let's follow the latest ADA guidelines on Hickock. And would be great to figure out bump-outs, stormwater considerations. Jon: A lot more spot survey to dial-in ADA ramps and get slopes correct. Detectable warning surfaces. Lot of sidewalk that’s lowered, ponding issues, poor drainage; lots of visual inspections, need for cleanup. V. Tree Committee Updates Laura: Jim was hoping to have an inventory update to share, but has not been a chance to prepare. Latest update is that the inventory was focused on two areas of the city (different portions each year, so all street trees were inventoried every five years). Focused on Richards park and found several Ash trees, and updated trees on Main (many of which in poor conditions); because of the incoming Main Street project, these trees are not high- priority, even if in poor condition. Did receive Caring for Canopy grant, figuring we would have funding to buy trees to plant this Spring; this is on-hold, but will be planted in fall and ideally would share planting plans with us to get OK. We did receive a Tree CitY USA designation! Fall celebration? Chris describes the Tree Committee’s idea for original Arbor Day celebration in Landry Park, and suggests that an Arbor Day-esque tree planting to occur in conjunction with pool completion in late August, plus additional plantings along Weaver Street or another corridor Confusion vs planting in parks vs. whether it counts as public works or Parks & Rec, maybe there may be some question as to who is in charge of those plantings. Jon: Both Ray and Jon… Community Service rely on DPW for park maintenance, etc. Jon tends to defer to Ray for any programming ,etc. Coordination with both Jon and Ray is necessary for park-related plantings. Mike: Arbor Day and the Pool. Maybe let’s hold off on Landry Park planting to match Arbor Day 2021 because the pool will be finished and we could host a big party/ walk-through. Jon: Arbor Day inventory, Tree City USA “supplies”; how can we use it? Mike: Maybe we use one of the flagpoles in the rotary to broadcast our Tree City USA status Ideas will be passed along to the Tree Committee. VI. Mansion Street Request to Change Traffic Flow Jon (introduction): City has rec’d request to modify traffic flow on Mansion Street. Related to the proposed “Main Street Apartments” project. The Project Review Commission link in the Planning Dep’t website provides a full PDF set. Greg Dixson, Joe Gamache, and Dave Carter present. Ultimately, the City Manager has authority to make decisions re: traffic flow. City met with Mr. Gamache, Carter and Dixson on May 15 to discuss; before Jon (introduction): City has rec’d request to modify traffic flow on Mansion Street. Related to the proposed “Main Street Apartments” project. The Project Review Commission link in the Planning Dep’t website provides a full PDF set. Greg Dixson, Joe Gamache, and Dave Carter present. Ultimately, the City Manager has authority to make decisions re: traffic flow. City met with Mr. Gamache, Carter and Dixson on May 15 to discuss; before City Mgr makes a decision, she would like feedback from MIC. Remember that the meeting is being recorded so that feedback can be reviewed by Mgr. Joe Gamache: Have lived in Winooski on Mansion Street for 67 years in his family home. A Gamache or Manseau on the street since that time. Mansion Street runs from Main Street to Barlow Street. At last count, 10 single family homes with 5 duplexes, one of which is owner-occupied. Parking is currently only allowed on the northern side of street (residential only). Residents have been negotiating with the developer of the Main Street Properties project; hearing before DRB, project reduced by ?. That said, the project still calls for 56 units broken up btw 2-BR and 1-BR homes. Parking on Mansion Street is already overburdened. Biggest problem residents see is that the new project calls for 19 parking spaces behind property which enter/exit from Mansion Street, then 56 additional spaces in an underground garage that enter/exit Main Street. Rush hour traffic considerations, impossible to get in or out of Mansion. Parking will come out of Main Street exit, head N up main street, then take a right and head down Barlow to East Allen to not have to battle traffic (i.e. make a difficult left turn on to Main from the garage). The developer and Mansion Street citizens have proposed a solution, which are: one-way, either eastbound or westbound. Dave Carter: (Jon presents slide w/ picture of proposed apartment bldg) An older architectural drawing of the building, but the Developer would agree that much of the changes were in back of development. Front of the building, as the picture shows; shows parking garage exit. Belief is that cars hoping to get to Burlington or interstate (southbound) will take an immediate turn into Mansion Street, increasing traffic from 43 cars in the garage. Additionally, 19 cars in the rear of the building also enter Mansion Street. (drawing of proposed Do Not Enter plan) note lack of parking on Mansion Street for commercial space for guests visiting Main/Mansion properties. Residents foresee a big problem, as Mansion is already used as a bypass/shortcut to East Allen. Primarily cars turning left off of Main onto Mansion. Optimal option is a Do Not Enter sign on the Main intersection, preventing access. Still feel there will be substantial parking problems in the area because of the density of units and potential for visitors, parking maxed out in surrounding areas. Spaces are not being provided by Main and Mansion apartments. One issue that came up in a previous meeting, “if we do this for Mansion STreet, they’ll have to do this for Platte Street”; and that seems likely, because some of the developments are going to put more traffic on those side streets. In an effort to build a Gateway District, we should be directing more traffic on to the main gateways, not towards side-streets. There is currently not enough police presence/parking violation monitoring of Mansion Street, but we see many cars without residence stickers parking on the street. If traffic and parking load is going to increase on Mansion street, we should beef up parking enforcement on the street. Joe: Question for Jon: Traffic monitoring device placed on Mansion Street. Been in place since last Thursday. Jon: Was not through us. Joe: Could traffic data be provided to Dave and I? May have some questions after seeing that information. Joe: Question for Jon: Traffic monitoring device placed on Mansion Street. Been in place since last Thursday. Jon: Was not through us. Joe: Could traffic data be provided to Dave and I? May have some questions after seeing that information. Dave: Also, data during COVID situation is not really relevant, since Main Street backup is typically less. Joe: Additionally, 3-day holiday weekend in the middle of the traffic monitoring period… so, further reduced traffic from Monday holiday. If Jesse is going to rely on that information for a decision, please provide to Dave and Joe. Jon: Unclear what information that device counts, so will check with the police chief. Agreed that not a good time to get good data on traffic re: usage, etc. Mike: Glad you brought up Platt Street… probably need to consider Platt. Sarah: Piecemeal changes to traffic flow untenable, need to think about this more holistically. Mike: People cutting/avoiding rotary, and Platt Street will have to be part of this decision because there will be impacts to their street. And it’s not safe traffic, it tends to be people in a hurry who are not driving safely. Sarah: The scale of this project is too big, with impacts spreading to surrounding streets. There are guest parking passses on Mansion Street. Joe: City appears to hand out too many parking passes, and perhaps too many stickers. Mike: No way to make a decision without tying Platt Street into it. Joe: Then this emphasizes the scope of the problem that we have. If changing traffic flow on Mansion street, indicates there is a larger traffic problem. Mike: Talking more about people traveling southbound on Main Street, not Mansion and Main Apartment complex. Discussion over general traffic backup between members. Re-emphasis that scale of the project too big for that corner. Joe: Do Not Enter sign is a compromise so that project is allowed to forward. Sarah: One-way streets should not be put in piecemeal, it should be a global consideration. Laura: What are we looking for from commissioners on this question? Jon: General feedback; no vote, no determination, just general feedback. Chris: This specific street and plan makes sense. Risky traffic behaviors already occur, and Do not Enter would mitigate both future parking and safety concerns. Jason: Is in agreement with Chris, and that other streets should also be considered. Mike: Not unusual for the City to shift traffic patterns; has happened on many occasions for Chris: This specific street and plan makes sense. Risky traffic behaviors already occur, and Do not Enter would mitigate both future parking and safety concerns. Jason: Is in agreement with Chris, and that other streets should also be considered. Mike: Not unusual for the City to shift traffic patterns; has happened on many occasions for other developments. Will need to consider other street patterns as well. Peter: Other bypasses, Lafountain and Dion. Ridiculous traffic pattern, heavy traffic as a bypass. There is a comprehensive traffic problem in Winooski, with folks using residential streets to circumvent the circle. Greg Dixson: proposal is not connected to project, so project would move forward regardless of proposal. Fire chief was also concerned with the presence of one-ways treets; speed tables or speed bumps, another option to slow traffic for safety considerations. May be a good option to get Mansion Street happy with safety/speed, but not restrict traffic patterns/flows. Sarah: Speed bump idea works well. Joe: Creates a problem for plowing… yet the city has speed bumps all over and makes it work, plows always seem to keep work completely clear. Laura: Speed bumps and one-way traffic are both applicable. One-way traffic solution is fairly low-cost and low-effort for infrastructure, so easy to adjust it to another plan/something else, just a matter of signage and behavior. Generally supportive of traffic- calming measures, and measures that direct traffic to the arteries. Corey: Sounds like it’s a problem that is not so much related to the development, and is being presented as a solution. Need some projections re: traffic generated. Is it a solution that this is an existing solution that requires system-wide analysis, like Sarah suggested. Could really overburden Main Street if we throw too many one-way streets. Speed tables, etc. get people to slow down, but one-way streets may not be the best way. One-way street for 40 ft with only striping; probably won’t actually stop people from driving, folks will likely continue to drive it. Only way to make a viable solution if it was curbed and only 16 ft wide so only 1 vehicle can be present at a time, but that could be troubling for the fire chief. Shouldn’t it be one-way for the entire road? Then you could do cool things with green belts or increase parking volume? Corridor evaluation of side-streets should occur. Any data we have now is not representative, and probably would not pass muster to make it representative. This is what Corey was talking about 4 months ago, too, so that this could be technically reviewed by someone outside the City… would be good if Jon had a tool for professional overview with potentially large impact for the neighborhood. Ultimately, would like to know what we’re addressing here, if it's the result of Main Street development or general traffic? If general traffic, then that is a larger issue that needs to be taken up. And Where is Platt street in this discussion? Laura: really understanding the problem, and does this address the problem, and larger context questions are really important in making these decisions. More information would be necessary before making a final decision, with an understanding on how changes to Mansion street may affect other streets in the corridor. Dave: We are looking out for Mansion Street, and feel the pain of Platt and other streets. We would like a comprehensive solution.  be necessary before making a final decision, with an understanding on how changes to Mansion street may affect other streets in the corridor. Dave: We are looking out for Mansion Street, and feel the pain of Platt and other streets. We would like a comprehensive solution. Chris: Sounds like overall, more data needed, especially if there is no delay to the development. Timur: if data collection is not possible, at least some analysis. How much does the speed table cost? Jon: Could be implemented within the annual paving program budget. Not a major budgetary concern. VII. Role of Commissions During the Pandemic Maybe meet at reduced schedule, or as required based on issues/projects? Jon: Some of our less-priority items on the internal agenda (i.e. ordinances for stormwater, etc.) have taken a backseat for right now, but Main Street will be a big push to get to construction. Best to maintain a meeting for next month for feedback on the streetscape portion. Also, feedback for other projects ongoing is very useful. Sidewalks offer a good planning exercise for moving along. Generating a numbered criteria-based system is something Jon owes, could put on next week's agenda. Jason: Easier to cancel than to schedule, so let’s hold the time and plan on having a June meeting. Mike: Shoot out what works for everyone per scheduling, may be another week. As things return to normal, it might be important for us to continue 1x month. Also, to get out to the public for information, etc. Laura: City can only hold one meeting at a time. Chris: VHB presentation… any date in mind for that? Jon: would like to get info/;presentation to us in advance so that we can review prior to meeting. Corey: would also like to see Hickock plans… Jon will send a long link to PDFs. Green-up day is on Saturday May 30! FPF posts! Materials on Winooski website. VIII. Adjourn Motion by: Jason Second: Corey Meeting End Time: 8:05 PM