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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/22/2006 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting . MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, MAY 22, 2006 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, May 22,2006 at 5:30 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Fitch, Ballew, Lundberg, Ralston, and Woodrow. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Cynthia Pappas, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. Councilor Pishioneri was absent (excused). 1. Update - ODOT Construction Proiect No. 13078 - "ORI26: Jenkins Drive - Silver Creek". . Assistant Public Works Director Len Goodwin presented the staff report on this item. Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is repaving sections of Oregon Route 126 through Springfield under the above referenced contract. Unit I of this work extends along Franklin Blvd. in Glenwood from the I-5 overcrossing to the bridges over the Willamette River Bridges (MP 0.14 to 1.28.) Unit 2 of the work extends along Main Street in Springfield from 21 st Street to nnd Street (MP 2.97 to 7.98.) Work is expected to take about 6 weeks within the period of June 1 to August 31, 2006. In order to minimize traffic disruption the City Council at their regular session on January 17, 2006 approved the contractor, Wildish Construction Co., to work outside the hours 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. This ODOT project will be very visible to Springfield businesses and residents. An ODOT representative is here this evening to provide project information. There is no financial impact to the city. Mr. Goodwin introduced Steve Templin, Engineer from ODOT. Mr. Templin said ODOT had tried to keep the Council and Public Works informed about the projects that had been going on. He said he was available if Council ever had any questions about the project. He said the project was outlined well in the agenda item summary (AlS). Councilor Lundberg said there was a lot of construction going on in town. She referred to the placement of flashing signs that announced the project and suggested alternate routes. She said people would need to know what the alternate routes were and she asked when that would be relayed. . Mr. Templin said the project was to be done in two units within Springfield. The first section was through Glenwood from the bridge going to Eugene to the Springfield Bridge. All the work City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 22, 2006 Page 2 . was being done during the night so there were no lane closures during the day. If the contractor worked beyond their scheduled hours, there were financial penalties. The second section would start at 19th Street and go all the way down to nnd Street. The project included two sections outside the Springfield city limits, from Cedar Flats to Walterville and from Vida to Silver Creek. He said Wildish was working on Unit One in Glenwood. He said there was about two months of work for each unit. He described some of the work to be done and the issue with utilities. Many utility companies were completing work in preparation before the overlay started. Councilor Lundberg said having a schedule would help. She asked how the public was being informed. Mr. Templin said the intent was to have access to all businesses and to have no impacts during the day. Councilor Ballew asked for an explanation of the overlay project. Mr. Templin said it was an inlay project that would include taking the street down the same amount it would be built back up. The improvements included bike lanes from 21 sl to nnd Streets. The grade for the bike lanes would be improved in those areas. He discussed the bike lanes in Glenwood. Other adjustments were being made, including closure of driveways that had not been used in some time. . Councilor Ballew asked if they would be doing any sidewalks or curb cuts. Mr. Templin said there would be some closures of driveways. The affected property owners were aware. Councilor Fitch asked ifthere would be a sign with contact or phone numbers. Mr. Templin said there was no place that was suitable to put such a sign. Councilor Fitch said citizens would be calling the City. She asked how they were getting the information out to the public. Mr. Templin said other than what had been done, he was not aware of anything else. He said ODOT had been working with keepusmoving.org to post the information on their website. Mr. Goodwin mentioned ODOT'sparticipation in the weekly construction information printed by the Register Guard. Mr. Templin said he provided detailed information to a list of recipients, but did not know if it went to the Register Guard. Mr. Goodwin said he was quite sure it was printed in the Register Guard. . Councilor Ballew said ODOT was making an effort to get the word out to the public. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 22, 2006 Page 3 . Mayor Leiken referred to a letter sent out on Springfield Utility Board (SUB) letterhead regarding a moratorium. He said he discussed the letter with Mr. Goodwin. He said he heard about the letter from someone else and was surprised he had not heard about it sooner. He said the letter noted that from 20th to 75th Street, there would be a moratorium of development along Main Street for a minimum of five years. Mr. Templin discussed the City's policy regarding cutting into the street once it had been improved. The actual maintenance of the project was handled by ODOT's district office and he was unsure of their actual policy. He said he had heard the moratorium was for different standards for repairing the pavement if it was cut. He discussed some of those standards. Mayor Leiken said he was satisfied with the answer he had received from staff. He said he understood, but was concerned with the language in the letter. He said the moratorium referred to the street itself, not the sidewalks or other development. Councilor Ballew asked when the section of Main Street from the Springfield Bridge to 21 st Street would be repaved. Mr. Templin said there was nothing scheduled through 2011. He explained how ODOT scoped their projects. Councilor Ballew said it seemed odd because it was the same traffic. . Mr. Templin said it came down to the cost for that section compared to other sections. Councilor Woodrow asked ifthere was a timeframe for work to be done on I-105 from I-5 to Main Street. Mr. Templin said there was nothing scheduled for the next five years. He explained how ODOT looked at the different projects to determine what they could or could not do. He said he was not familiar with the I-105 and Main Street section of the highway. He noted the amount of money involved in the section between the Springfield Bridge and 21 st Street due to bicycle lanes and bulb outs. He said the streets would continue to be maintained along this section. Mr. Goodwin said once the expressway was complete, there could be more of an incentive to look at the condition of the surface on I-105. Mr. Templin offered to take any calls from citizens. Mr. Goodwin said City staff knew how to contact Mr. Templin. He said staff would try to get a more detailed calendar of projects and make it available to Council. 2. Proposed Amendments to the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) System Development Charge (SDC) Methodology. . Environmental Services Supervisor Ravi Brooksbank presented the staff report on this item. In January of 2006, MWMC contracted with Galardi Consulting to research available information related to wastewater system capacity requirements for non-residential users for the purpose of assessing wastewater system development charges. Ms. Galardi found that, for the most part, City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 22, 2006 Page 4 . MWMC's existing SDC methodology, schedule and assumptions appear to be consistent with current industry practices; however, she made several recommendations for modifications to the SDC fee schedule related to eating and drinking type establishments. Additional information on the specific recommendations is provided in the attached Council Briefing Memo. In addition to the proposed modifications stated above, staff made recommendations to the Commission for amending the methodology to allow the SDC rate schedule, which is based on project costs, to be periodically escalated by the Engineering News Record national20-city average Construction Cost Index (ENR-CCI). On March 16th, staff presented the Commission with an overview of the proposed set of changes to the MWMC SDC methodology. The Commission voted to release the proposed changes for public review and to set a public hearing date. The public hearing was held on April 20, 2006. No public comment was submitted and the Commission adopted the amended methodology. Consistent with the Intergovernmental Agreement, MWMC has forwarded the amended SDC methodology to the Cities of Springfield and Eugene for consideration and possible adoption. At the Council's May 22nd work session, staff will present the proposed methodology changes. The Council may direct staff to further refine the amended methodology prior to the public hearing and possible adoption at the June 5th Council meeting. . Ms. Brooksbank referred Council to the table on page 2 of Attachment A in the agenda packet which noted the types of establishments that would be changed. She explained each category and gave examples of each. Mayor Leiken asked who came up with the definitions for each establishment. Environmental Services Manager Susie Smith said the defmitions emerged directly from problems that were identified by the new incoming influx of Subway, Quiznos and similar types of restaurants that had a lot of pre-prepared food and not a lot of cooking activity. She said one of the customers from that type of establishment brought this to MWMC's attention. Councilor Lundberg asked if these were the City's definitions. Ms. Smith said they were MWMC's definitions and would affect the local side. Councilor Lundberg suggested some changes in the terminology. Ms. Smith said the consultant matched these defmitions with Eugene's and MWMC had already adopted this with these definitions. She suggested adding Councilor Lundberg's language parenthetically. Mr. Vogeney said some of the definitions were based on transportation engineer definitions related to ITE trip generation. . He explained. . Councilor Lundberg suggested including more explanation in the future as to why they were defined in a certain way. She asked about the base flow. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 22, 2006 Page 5 . Ms. Smith said in the preparation of the consultant's report, Ms. Galardi looked at a study done by Eugene a few years ago in which they surveyed every food preparation establishment in the area. Councilor Ballew asked Ms. Smith to elaborate why food places were treated separately from other businesses. Ms. Smith said it was based on the strength of the discharge. She said it sometimes included oil and grease, although businesses with that type of discharge were supposed to have some type of interceptor. She said the amount of ground up food caused a biochemical treatment requirement. Councilor Lundberg said all food establishments were required to have grease traps at a separate fee. She asked if that extra fee was factored in. Ms. Smith said the grease trap was a protection of the collection system, and was not related to MWMC. She said if the grease passed and clogged up the collection system, City crews provide clean-up. The costs for that clean-up were charged to establishments. . Ms. Brooksbank referred to the second proposed amendment. She said it related to periodically escalating the SDC rate schedule. In order for that to take place, the specific index needed to be included in the methodology. Staff was proposing to include the engineering and construction costs in the methodology, allowing them to annually inflate the schedule. Proposed methodology changes were presented to the MWMC on March 16 and were adopted on April 20, 2006. Councilor Fitch said it was critical to have the increase in there in order to keep pace. Councilor Lundberg asked if there was a committee who looked at this methodology. Ms. Smith said MWMC did an exhaustive revamp of the SDC methodology which was recently updated. The two proposed amendments were minor and considered housekeeping. She said they wanted to be very explicit and did not want staff to take any action that could appear discretionary. She said regarding the restaurant issue, an applicant wrote an appeal letter regarding their SDC rates. The applicant also provided information from around the state about their type of restaurant. Staff hired a consultant to look at the issue because it seemed valid. The consultant focused on this specific category. 3. Springfield Pandemic Influenza Plan (SPIP). Community Relations Coordinator Niel Laudati presented the staff report on this item. Fire Chief Dennis Murphy was also available to answer questions. The Federal government completed a comprehensive Pandemic Influenza Plan in November of 2005 and the State of Oregon followed in March of 2006. Both plans stress the importance of local planning and preparedness at the community level and training exercises to test readiness. A Springfield Pandemic Influenza Plan is being prepared. . Give the spread of Avian (bird) Flu to ever-increasing numbers of countries and the spread from bird-to-human ofthe H5Nl flu virus, resulting in a high mortality rate in those infected, the World Health Organization (WHO) has posted a Level 3 Pandemic Alert. This level of alert is to City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 22, 2006 Page 6 . raise the threat assessment awareness for a heightened possibility of human- to-human spread of the flu, which could lead to the possibility of a widespread influenza outbreak and high death rate. At this point the spread from human-to-human is verified to be limited to one additional human contact for those infected by birds. A Pandemic outbreak is declared at level 6. Springfield's Emergency Management Committee (EMC) initiated the development ofa Springfield Pandemic Influenza Plan (SPIP) in February 2006. The interim period has been spent completing research on best practices and model programs developed elsewhere, with the goal of modifying and adopting best practices from the credible sources, rather than "starting from scratch". Adopting best practices also includes development of a budget for related supplies and services outside the normal scope of the City budget. No expenses for staff or outside assistance are contemphited at this time. The EMC has initiated a Weekly Update on Springboard, the City's intranet, as well as a Pandemic Influenza web page on the FireMed and City website. EMC members will continue to develop the SPIP with a goal of plan review and decision by the City Manager in September 2006. A Pandemic Influenza Tabletop Disaster Exercise is planned for September 21,2006. The plan is scheduled for adoption in October 2006. Councilor Pishioneri serves as EMC Liaison for this process. . Mr. Laudati said there had been no known cases of the H5NI virus in the United States. Authorities were intercepting birds in Alaska and were focusing on the migratory birds. There were no reported cases of the virus passing from human to human. Leading World Health Organizations had said there could be a possibility this could happen. The Federal Government had made large scale plans, but had told cities not to expect the Federal Government to come in to help if this should happen. The planning needed to be done on the local level. He said the SPIP was responsive to the guidelines from the State. Mr. Laudati said the SPIP covered the threat of outbreak, widespread illness, and any resulting loss of life. He said the SPIP drew from best practices, used other plans that were effective and made it unique to Springfield. The plan would be annexed into Springfield's Emergency Management Plan. He said there would be twelve chapters, ranging from roles and responsibilities of organizations, maintenance of City services, communication and preparedness of individuals. Lane County was the lead agency and Springfield was playing their role. Staff was currently getting the word out to citizens with information posted on the City's web site of what citizens could do to be prepared. He said the website had a tag line of "be prepared, not scared". Springfield worked with its partners in Lane County, and did a series of media interviews to explain that Springfield was doing some planning. He noted that if this virus did not mutate, the work would not be wasted, because it would apply to any communicable disease that might come to our area. He noted that Councilor Pishioneri was the Council liaison from this committee. Staff would bring this plan back to Council in September and October. A tabletop meeting would also be scheduled for September which would include the City of Eugene and Lane County. Councilor Ballew asked if the planning checklist was significantly different than any other disaster planning kit. . Mr. Laudati said the Red Cross had the planning matrix on their website and these were very close. It was basically items that people should have in any disaster. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 22, 2006 Page 7 . Councilor Woodrow asked if this could be applicable given the preparation and the increase in mumps in Lane County. Chief Murphy said Lane County Public Health had not given the City any instruction on that, but the common cold and seasonal flu would all be best applied to this procedure. He gave examples. He said there was some resocialization and public education that would need to go on. Most things were common sense and not expensive. Mayor Leiken referred to the lack of assistance from the Federal Government. He referred to Homeland Security and Domestic Preparedness Committee, which he served on for two years. He asked if the Federal Government would provide dollars to communities for equipment and training. Mr. Laudati said the plan provided by the Federal Government outlined many steps that the City was able to use. If the Pandemic Influenza hit, there could be a timeline when the government would be working on a vaccine, and during that interim the City and Lane County would need to partner to get things done. The only money spent on this plan at this time was staff time. . Chief Murphy said the Federal Government did have their act together, had their plan in order since the Fall of 2005, and had been the lead. The State put their plan in place by Spring 2006 and the City would have their plan in place by October 2006. He said the Federal Government provided the plan and noted that this would be considered an emergency incident and eligible for consideration of grant money. Vaccine development and anti-virals would be done by the Federal Government. The Federal Government had identified their role as lead agency and created a model. Because a pandemic could be everywhere, the Federal Government would not be able to be everywhere, so local governments needed to work together. Mayor Leiken s~id he agreed that each State did a good job regarding homeland security. He said it was good to have a system in place and be prepared. 4. Construction ofErnX Facilities within RiverBend Subdivision in Conjunction with the Public Improvements. City Engineer Ken Vogeney presented the staff report on this item. Lane Transit District (LTD) has reached an agreement with PeaceHealth to construct EmX facilities at the PeaceHealth RiverBend Campus as part of the public improvements being constructed by PeaceHealth. Staff seeks Council direction concerning an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the City and L TD to the location, financing, operations and maintenance of those facilities. L TD is currently in the process of completing an Environmental Assessment for the EmX line in the Gateway area. LTDhas visited the Council several times this Spring to discuss and select a locally preferred alternative to study in more detail. L TD plans to complete the Environmental Assessment of this phase of their system in time to submit an application for Federal funds in August, 2006. As of today, the NEPA process that consists of the Environmental Assessment and its review has not been completed. . PeaceHealth is currently constructing the first phase of their public improvement project (PIP), which includes RiverBend Drive south of Cardinal Way. They plan to construct the remainder of City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 22, 2006 Page 8 . their public improvements beginning in the spring of 2007. PeaceHealth and L TD have approached staff to request approval to include construction of the EmX facilities in RiverBend Drive as part of the public improvements in 2007. Once the NEP A process is completed and the EmX facilities are constructed, there will be both ' short- and long-term operations and maintenance issues concerning these facilities. The attached Council Briefing Memo. summarizes the more significant policy issues that staff recommends for inclusion into an IGA between the City and LTD. . Mr. V ogeney said currently the system under construction had not impacted Springfield as a jurisdiction because work had been done on all ODOT roads, rather than City of Springfield roads. Questions arose when discussing lanes going in on City roads and the maintenance funding for those lanes. He discussed those questions and concerns. He referred to page 2 of Attachment A, included in the agenda packet which outlined some of the issues related to the EmX lanes. LTD was not planning to use Federal funds for this portion of the project, but had made arrangements with PeaceHealth to use local funds. The City had not yet seen the plans for the bus lanes. He said some of those lanes would be used exclusively for EmX vehicles and other lanes would be shared as left turn pockets for major intersections and driveways. He said the entire plan was included in the NEPA documents. He had suggested conditioning the City's approval ofLTD's next phase of public improvement plans and construction in RiverBend to be consistent with the approved EA. L TD was moving forward with the EA for the entire Pioneer Parkway/Gateway area. The City did not know if the EA and preferred alternative would be approved and adopted, so the proposal put forth by L TD would affect PeaceHealth' s ability to complete the street improvements and open the hospital by 2008. He said the agreement between L TD and PeaceHealth was that in the event the EA was not approved, PeaceHealth would build the plans for what they needed. Councilor Lundberg asked about the NEP A process and if a stakeholders group had been formed. She asked ifthere were alternatives for the City to review. Mr. V ogeney said the focus on earlier discussions by L TD to the Council had focused on Gateway and Harlow and had not addressed the RiverBend piece. The drafts in the proposal for the NEP A process were consistent with the approved master plan for the RiverBend campus. He discussed some of the stakeholder meetings regarding the designs and noted that there had not been an alternate for this piece because it was reflected as such in the master plan. Councilor Lundberg said it was more a public open house process rather than a stakeholders group that worked through the issues. She noted the alternative for Pioneer Parkway and voiced her concerns about the alternatives. She asked how the City could account for what came out of the NEP A process. She agreed that L TD should pay for the operation and maintenance of their own lanes. She was concerned about the timing of everything. Councilor Fitch said the ErnXSteering Committee, which she served on for six or seven years, did include different groups along each of the routes. She said the lanes within RiverBend dealt more with PeaceHealth. She said there was concern from PeaceHealth of this slowing down the project and delaying the completion of their road before the hospital was built. . Councilor Ballew asked who owned the right-of-way where the lanes were going in. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 22, 2006 Page 9 . Mr. Vogeney said it would be City of Springfield right-of-way. Currently, it was owned by PeaceHealth, but would be dedicated to the City. Mr. Goodwin said the IGA would have to address the ability ofLTD to use Springfield's right- of-way for exclusive bus lanes. Councilor Ballew said LID should pay maintenance for the exclusive use of the lanes. Councilor Ralston asked if L TD had the funds to build the route in RiverBend or if PeaceHealth was paying for any of the construction of the roads. Mr. V ogeney said he did not know what funds L TD had available today for those lanes. He said LTD had told him they would use local funds to pay for those lanes, not Federal funds. Construction of the rest of the street system would be funded by PeaceHealth. Councilor Ralston said LID should bear the full cost of maintenance for their lanes. He said that loop was more critical than anything else LTD was planning. He explained why. He said LTD should be focusing on the RiverBend area. . Mr. V ogeney said the City had approved for construction the street improvements for RiverBend Drive. L TD and PeaceHealth would like to put in the EmX lanes at the same time to reduce cost and disruption to the hospital once it was open. He said the City had not been in on those conversations in which they could have identified. the policy questions being discussed tonight. He said the question was whether or not to enter into on.e IGA which would address the entire Pioneer Parkway/Gateway loop or one IGA with LID for just the RiverBend campus and address the remainder of the system in the future. Councilor Ballew discussed funding she had heard about during a Freight Advisory Committee meeting in Portland through Connect Oregon. She said $25M was to be used statewide and $15M for each region. It would then go to review by a combination Freight Committee/Navigation Committee. She said Number 3 on the list included $5.3M that was put forward for the EmX project. She said she did not know if that funding was connected to any conditions. Mr. Vogeney said to keep on track for PeaceHealth's opening in 2008, LID would need to start construction on these lanes no later than early spring 2007 . LID's initial request was to start construction the beginning of June 2006, but Mr. V ogeney told them he could not support that because they had not yet submitted construction plans. He said the submittal of plans was expected by September or October 2006, with construction to begin in early spring of2007. Councilor Lundberg said it was important for the City Council to be informed of anything going on in that area. She asked who the decision group was for the NEP A. Mr. Goodwin said the NEP A results would be coming back to the Springfield Council in September. . Councilor Lundberg discussed her concerns about the process. She said it didn't feel solid and she had questions about how the lanes could be used before the EmX was approved. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes May 22, 2006 Page 10 . Mr. Goodwin said LID was trying to move rapidly on this project and take advantage of efficiencies to make it as cost effective as possible. Before anything was constructed, Council would have a chance to weigh in on the EA process. He said it would be nice if it had been done before, but that would put L TD in a position of putting in lanes once the hospital was open. He said it was a balance, but the ultimate control was with the City. Before project construction, issues such as maintenance and operations would be concluded. Councilor Woodrow thanked Mr. V ogeney and his staff for their work. He said he understood \ why LID would want to build the lanes now. He asked that staff find out from LTD what would happen to the lanes if they were built now before EmX was in place. He also said it appeared that the Council all agreed L TD should be responsible for maintenance funding. Stephano Viggiano from L TD said L TD would offer service to PeaceHealth once they were open. At first it would be conventional service, because EmX would not be ready to go at that time. Even if EmX was not approved, L TD would provide good service to the hospital and the lanes would be used for conventional buses. Mr. V ogeney said the current standard buses were passenger loading on the right side, whereas the EmX facility would have passenger loading on both the right and left. With stations in the median, passenger loading on the right hand side didn't work out very well. He said that was part of the short-term operations discussion that would be held with LTD and transportation engineers. Mr. Vogeney said staff would move forward on an IGA with LTD. . ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:40 pm. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa 7he~ John Woodrow Council President Attest: .