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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/25/2013 Work SessionCity of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday. March 25, 2013 at 5:30 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mavor Lundberg and Councilors VanGordon, Wylie; Moore, Ralston and Woodrow. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. Councilor Brew was absent (excused). Mayor Lundberg acknowledged Chief Jerry Smith and noted that tonight was his last meeting in his official capacity before his retirement. She presented him with a plaque thanking him for his service to the City and acknowledged his great leadership as Chief of Police. It was a very important job in our community. Chief Smith said he had a great deal of admiration for the Council members who volunteered their time. He had enjoyed serving the City over the last 43 years. Councilor Wylie thanked the Chief for his service and friendship. Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery introduced the first item as City Manager Gino Grimaldi had a conflict of interest as a resident of one of the subdivisions being discussed. 1. Water Quality Facilities in Subdivisions — Compliance Issues. Maintenance Manager Brian Conlon presented the staff report on this item, along with Environmental Services (ES) Tech Il Meghan Murphy. He acknowledged ES Senior Tech Sunny W ashbume, ES Supervisor Bill Hamann and Operations Supervisor Greg Ferschweiller who were also in the audience and available to answer questions. Since the early 1990's the City's Development Code had required the installation of stormwater management systems (both structural and non - structural Water Quality Facilities (WQFs) in public and private developments through the development review and approval process. Staff had found that business owners were generally proactive and willing to maintain their WQFs. In contrast, achieving compliance for WQFs in subdivisions and maintaining City owned WQFs had been more problematic. Seasonal staff resources may be needed to more effectively manage these facilities. The purpose of stormwater management was to, by mimicking natural hydrology; improve water quality, and collect and effectively convey stormwater runoff. The WQF Management Program was implemented in 2010 and was an inspection and compliance program to ensure that both public and private systems were effectively maintained. There were currently 38 WQFs that the Environmental Services and Operations Divisions oversaw and regulated; 10 City owned and maintained WQFs, 10 Private WQFs with negotiated maintenance agreements (City to maintain system functionality), and City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 25. 2013 Pase 2 18 private WQFs where systems maintenance was the responsibility of the homeowners associations (HOAs). Many of these WQFs, such as detention ponds in multiple lot subdivisions, were in poor functional condition and needed attention. Achieving compliance for WQFs that served multiple properties in subdivisions had been much more challenging. Many homeowners and residents were unaware of the HOA's responsibility to maintain their WQFs. Another problem was that many HOAs were administratively dissolved or non- functioning making communication and enforcement difficult. HOAs often lacked the funding and knowledge to properly maintain these facilities. Staff continued to dedicate many hours pursuing formal compliance solutions and facilitating WQF education and outreach to meet regulatory obligations. Ms. Murphy presented a power point presentation. She explained a water quality facility and how natural resources could be used to handle water runoff. She explained why these facilities had been put in and the Water Quality Facility Management Program that was in place. There were several issues in trying to gain compliance for privately owned or HOA owned facilities. Ultimately the City was responsible to be compliant with our MS4 permit and State and Federal regulations. Staff had met to try to find solutions to the issues of compliance and maintenance of the facilities. The proposal that had come out of the meetings was a pilot project increasing the budget by $40,000 to increase FIE for operations staff and summer crew labor to remove vegetation or trash from the sites as needed. Environmental Services would remain involved with the HOA's and the education piece. Mr. Conlon said staffs proposal was to address the issues around the WQFs. Part of the proposal included additional education for the HOA's and citizens. Ms. Murphy and ES Public Information and Education Specialist Rachael Chilton had already done a great job of making contact with and working individually with people and with the HOA's to educate them about the need for compliance. Increasing the summer work crew to assist with maintenance of these facilities was one option. The clean -up efforts would be in a partnership with Environmental Services and after conferring with the City Attorney's Office. The City was not in a position to purchase the privately owned properties, but he felt the proposal could be done within the existing rates and would not increase current rates. Councilor Woodrow said getting this as streamlined as possible might help the whole process. Everyone paid the stormwater fee, whether they belonged to a HOA or not. She asked if there were funds in the stormwater fees that could cover this program. Mr. Conlon said there was enough in reserves to pay for the project. They would also be looking at what staff was doing and possibly reprioritize the stormwater management work being done. They also felt the partnership approach and working with the public was a benefit. That was why they had considered buying a cargo trailer with equipment to loan out to citizens to do their own work. Councilor Woodrow asked how the agreements were made with the HOAs. Ms. Murphy said it was usually done with the developer when the development was being built. Mr. Vogeney said those agreements were to be signed by the developer at the time the subdivision plat was prepared and recorded. Those agreements were supposed to go to the HOA with that package. It was not until more than 50 or 70 percent of the lots had been sold that the developer stepped away and the property owners or HOA were responsible. Sometimes that was a number of years after the City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 25, 2013 Page 3 development had occurred, therefore; many homeowners didn't realize the stormwater management was part of their responsibility. Councilor Woodrow said the partnership idea, education and outreach would be important. That would give the homeowners the opportunity to see the importance. Mr. Conlon said staff had done a lot of work educating people, unfortunately they had also been enforcing which made it more difficult. Some HOAs were very proactive and staff was able to make a lot of headway with those groups. Unfortunately; some HOAs had been disbanded, making it very difficult. Councilor Moore asked if the inventory of these sites was complete and available to citizens Ms. Murphy said it was always being updated and not currently available to the public. Councilor Moore said there was a catch basin on her property; and she didn't know if it was her responsibility. She asked how she would go about getting the information about whose responsibility the catch basin was on their property. There were other citizens in that situation so perhaps a mailer to those citizens would be helpful as they were identified. Ms. Washbume said as part of the inventory process; staff notified homeowners and provided them with a pamphlet of information on the purpose of the facility and maintenance. The pamphlet included staff contact information. Not all catch basins in the City were water quality and those property owners may not receive notice. Mr. Conlon said ESD was developing pamphlets and availability to the website to educate people. It was an evolution of what people needed to know. Councilor Moore noted that Code also changed and there were now other options, such as rain gardens. Mr. Conlon said ESD now had information on installing rain gardens. People wanted to know and the City needed to fmd ways to provide the information to those that needed it. If people had a question about a facility on their property, they could call the City. Councilor Moore said education was key. Mr. Hamann said the trailer was a great idea because it would be tangible and they could advertise the stormwater program and website on the side of the trailer. Mr. Conlon said there was another element to this program. The City was obligated by the development of Phase I and 11 of the Corps of Engineers project on the Mill Race. The additional staff being proposed would help remove invasives the City was required to remove at that site. Councilor VanGordon asked how many sites there were where the City had good relationships with the HOA or homeowner. Ms. Murphy said there were about 28 facilities and about 10 held challenges working with the HOA City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 25, 2013 Page 4 Mr. Conlon said that didn't include the functional maintenance responsibility of the City which was growing faster than we had been able to maintain with decreasing budgets and increased development This was a pilot program and staff could let Council know how it was working. The funds were coming from the stormwater reserves. Councilor VanGordon suggested if they could focus on the groups that could be educated and move forward to improve. The goal was to make sure someone was taking care of the facilities. It would be important to look ahead and see what the second year would look like. If they kept working on this project we wouldn't have the funding to keep it going. It was an important project and he felt the educational challenge was to educate the BOA so they were keeping up with the maintenance. Mr. Conlon said that was one of the major goals and objectives. Bioswales were different from landscaped gardens and people had difficulty in learning the difference. Mayor Lundberg said this was an experiment in 2002. At that time she was unsure people would embrace the idea of bioswales and ponds. This was set up was with the intent of keeping our water clean and cool. The bioswales and ponds cost much less than traditional facilities, but needed maintenance. She felt the City should be responsible because it was our ultimate responsibility and homeowners changed. She would like to see how the pilot went over the year. It was important to call it a water quality facility so people would understand it was to keep the water clean. She would like to see what it would cost for the City to take full responsibility. Mr. Conlon said staff could evaluate that as well. Councilor Moore asked if public service announcements were still available at no cost. Mr. Laudati said it depended on the issue, but he felt an outreach plan could be worked up and submitted. Councilor Moore said it affected the entire area. Ms. Murphy said traditional stormwater went straight through pipes to the river without being treated. When older developments changed, they would need to go through the development review process with new requirements for water quality. Mr. Conlon said other things helped increase water quality, such as increased sweeping. Councilor Wylie said she was supportive of this project. She liked the concept of water gardens and healthier fish and cleaner water, and felt it was important to keep telling the public about those things. Councilor Ralston said he remembered when this was first implemented and he remembered giving the private sector the responsibility. The reasons that option was provided was because it cost less than the City maintaining these facilities_ The City needed to enforce those that were not complying, or not have those facilities. The City was tight on money and he didn't want to keep spending money. Ms. Washburne said the hardest part was the enforcement issue. They tried to work with the HOAs in an effort to avoid taking them to court because it could involve up to 50 people in the BOA going to court. It was difficult to determine who to enforce when the BOA was no longer in place or never got started. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 25, 2013 Pale 5 Councilor Ralston said in the future, the City needed to know who would be responsible and that they needed to maintain the facility. Mayor Lundberg said this year we had these mechanisms to use to try to deal with these situations and figure out what to do in the future. They did need a mechanism to enforce. Council knew the risks when they first started. Mr. Conlon said they would work with City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith and the City Attorney's Office to see what could be done. Councilor Woodrow said communication and education were key. New people moving in may not be aware of the impact of stormwater if they had not lived in a community where the stormwater ran into the river. Councilor Moore asked about tall grass and weeds and enforcement Mr. Conlon said the Fire and Life Safety used to enforce it as a fire code; but it was no longer enforceable. Staff tried to work with the property owners. 2. Amendments to the Springfield Development Code (SDC) Section 4.3 -145 —Wireless Telecommunication Systems Facilities; and Certain Terms Found in Section 6.1 -110 — Meaning of Specific Words and Terms; Which Apply to Section 4.3 -145. Planner Mark Metzger presented the staff report on this item. On October 22, 2012, staff met in work session with Council to discuss its concerns with current policies regulating the siting and design standards for Wireless Telecommunication Systems (WTS) facilities. At that meeting, staff proposed an approach to resolving Council's concerns. Council approved the approach and directed staff to develop amendments to the Development Code to implement desired changes. Attachment 1 of the agenda packet was an annotated version of the amended Section 43 -145. The amended section replaced the existing section and amended the Section 6.1 -115 'relocate' terms specific to WTS facilities to Section 4.3 -145. Key changes found in. the amended Section 4.3 -145 included provisions for Council notification and Planning Commission review of all new cell tower installations; and Establishing minimum setbacks for towers from streets; and Requiring cell tower applicants to fund a peer review of certain applications where towers are proposed in or near residential areas. Attachment 2 of the agenda packet was a staff report which examined the proposed amendments for their consistency with the criteria found in SDC Section 5.6-115 for approving Development Code amendments. Mr. Metzger further described the proposed changes and explained the different types of cell towers. He discussed the peer review process; what triggered peer review and the costs involved. He noted that there had only been one cell tower built in the last five years. Since October, another had been City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes March 25, 2013 Page 6 proposed but was an incomplete application. The proposal was for a faux tree type tower on Lane County's waste transfer site. More small aerials were being installed rather than cell towers. Mayor Lundberg said Mr. Metzger had done a great job and she appreciated his work. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:26 p.m. Minutes Recorder — Amy Sowa Christine L. Lundberg Mayor Attest: Amy Sow City Recorder