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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/26/1998 Work Session . MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1998 The city of Springfield council met in work session in the Jesse Maine Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, October 26, 1998, at 600 p.m., with Mayor Morrisette presiding. ATTENDANCE. Present were Mayor Morrisette, Councilors Ballew, Dahlquist, Leiken, and Shaver. Councilors Beyer and Maine were absent (excused). Also present were Assistant City Manager Gino Grimaldi, City Attorney Tim Harold, Senior Management Analyst Rosie Pryor, City Recorder Julie Wilson and members of the staff. Mayor Morrisette announced that the order of the agenda would be changed. The annexation item would be first, the Main Street item second and amendment to the Municipal Code last. 1. Draft Resolution of City Annexation Procedures. . Planning Manager Greg Mott presented the staff report on this issue. There are two proposals available for annexation: property owner initiated and council initiated. Property owner initiated annexations occur without council involvement, are filed directly with the Boundary Commission and can be expedited upon request. Council initiated annexations require a council public hearing but can be expedited by the Boundary Commission. The council should establish a specific set of annexation guidelines identifying the circumstances that would require council review. The council discussed this proposal during its May 11, 1998, work session because existing policy is biased toward delayed effective date annexations, a policy made impractical by Ballot Measure 50. The remaining options for council consideration are citizen initiated or council initiated annexations. The former can be filed directly with the Boundary Commission (bypassing the council) while the council must review the latter. The council discussion of May 11 focused on the need to keep the,council informed and involved, but not to require council participation unless the annexation was currently or potentially significant. The council felt that significance could be quantified, for example, based on distance from existing sewer, and/or the volume of auto trips that could be generated by the property at full urban build out, etc. In consultation with Boundary Commission staff, city staff has revised the proposed annexation review process in the staff report to reflect the concerns raised by council. The issue for the council to decide is if these revisions provide the control sought by council over when and where annexations to the city occur and what circumstances would require council reVIew. . Staff requests direction on the following actions: 1) continue with current policy in Resolution 95-29 or 2) change policy based on factors identified in draft Annexation Resolution. Staff recommends the second option. Work Session - Meeting Minutes October 26, 1998 Page 2 . Mr. Mott explained that the language in the draft ordinance was a suggestion only. He discussed the draft resolution, attachment 2-2, item C. It read, "non-contiguous property, whether vacant or developed with urban uses land urban densities allowed by the Metro Plan, 300 feet or more from the city limits, shall be reviewed by the city council." The 300 feet was discussed. Item D, the number of250 or more vehicle trips per day, was discussed. He said the draft resolution provided for a starting point for discussion. He discussed the contiguous and non-contiguous annexations. Mr. Mott discussed item C and the 300 feet or more language. He said you would have to infer from omission of a text regarding less than 300 feet. He said council could clarify that language if they wanted to. Councilor Shaver thought that would be a good idea. Mr. Mott said possible revised language could be 'any non contiguous annexation.' He said that would make it clear that council wanted to review those. Mr. Mott discussed extra territorial extension and services. ,; Councilor Dahlquist said the simple thing would be to eliminate the 300 feet or more language from item C. He suggested requiring all to come before council for review. Mr. Mott said the council conducts a hearing and adopts the resolution either in support or not in support of the request. That support / rejection is forwarded to the Lane County Boundary Commission. They meet every other month. The deadline to schedule items for the Boundary Commission is 45 days prior to their hearing. The hearings are scheduled for the . first Thursday of every month. . Mayor Morrisette supported the Lane County Boundary Commission and their role. He said they make good decisions. Chief DeForrest said depending on where the city limits line is, on occasion, it may go down the middle of the street. If there ~s a major accident, the question becomes where did the accident begin and where did it end. In the case of a fatal accident, the question may become who will take and investigate the accident. It can become an issue. He used River Road and Santa Clara area as an example. Lane County has jurisdiction anywhere. He suggested that if a street was going to be annexed, annex the entire street, not just a portion. Public Works Director Dan Brown discussed urban transition and the transfer of roads from the county to the city. Previous council had taken the position that if the street was fully improved (or close to that), the city would take over the street. Ifthe street was not improved, the County would need to fix the street and then turn it over to the city. Council discussed road improvements needing to meet city standards. Mr. Mott discussed delayed effective date annexations in detail. Mr. Mott referenced item number C regarding non-contiguous property. The language read: . c. Non-contiguous property, whether vacant or developed with urban uses and urban densities allowed in the Metro Plan, 300 feet or more from the city limits, shall be reviewed by the City Council. Work Session - Meeting Minutes October 26, 1998 Page 3 . Council discussed amending item C, elimination of the foot requirement and non-contiguous property language. The group also discussed items related to the 250 or more vehicle trips per day. Major development, even if contiguous, should be reviewed by council. Item C would be modified as discussed. 2. Main Street Access Control, Highway 126 to 58th Street. Transportation Planning Engineer Masood Mirza, City Engineer Al Peroutka and Public Works Director Dan Brown provided information regarding this issue. As endorsed by the council last August, ODOT has completed a final design concept for the placement of medians on Main Street east of Highway 126 and is ready to implement the project. Council has requested to review the final proposed design, especially in light of letters and comments received from area businesses. Council has also expressed an interest in discussing the policy used by city and ODOT stafffor the placement of medians in the city. . Department of Transportation Representative Terry Tames also answered questions from council. He said anything done with raised medians, they work with city staff. He said the Highway was of statewide importance. He said the use has increased on this highway. He discussed Oregon Administrative Regulations regarding traffic control measures required, at the city's expense. He said they prefer to work with developers and public agencies as the need arises. He discussed the median policy in the new proposed regulations. He discussed the benefits of medians and the reduction of accidents. He discussed the preferred median type on multi lane highways. He said raised medians will become the preferred alternative. He said if this is adopted by the council, it will require approval by a licensed professional engineer. He said what is proposed on the wall diagrams, it is a minimum fix. If additional openings are requested by the council, that is something that ODOT is not willing to support. ODOT hopes the council supports the proposal. He discussed emerging small business program funds that were available to fund a portion of development along with additional funding. They do not think they will need to collect funding from adjacent property owners. Councilor Ballew asked what signage was available to warn motorist of upcoming raised islands. Special striping is a possibility, although, what is planned is a raisedhandlemarker . on the leading edge along the portion just on the East Side of 58th Street. Councilor Leiken discussed the location near the station byBi-Mart.Mr. Tames discussed the need to provide adequate holding storage. Council-elect Fred Simmons discussed traffic patterns and incoming lanes near McDonalds. He discussed traffic holding patterns, accidents and the driveway. Terry Tames responded that medians are placed to help in reducing severe accidents. Mr. Mirza said the median concentrates traffic so people know where to make a choice. He said the analysis has been done. Dennis Stahl, Bi Mart, discussed the intersection near that area and said it was a fairly narrow street and discussed traffic issues. . Mr. Mirza discussed the shopping center access, intersection and lane demands. Work Session - Meeting Minutes October 26, 1998 Page 4 . Councilor Dahlquist said he saw potential problem trying to turn left onto main from Bi-Mart because the turn lane was stacked up. He asked about ability to change signal patterns. Mr. Barnett said if there was a queue problem, it could easily be addressed. He said it may impact the level of service for other users. Scott Robbins, property owner, expressed concern regarding statistical analysis. He owns the property where the Flower Mart is located. He concurred that the majority of the accidents are rear-end accidents, rather than turning accidents. He also asked about slow-down devices. He said if the island or median model is accepted and implemented to resolve conflicts, he feared that access to his property may be a problem. Mayor Morrisette said some of these things my need to be redone at a later date. There will be issues to deal with in the future. Councilor Shaver looked at four factors to make a decision, volume, which is highest in city, speed in traffic, number of conflicts, and history of accidents. He said the numbers of accident rate are much higher in this area. Councilor Shaver hesitated to do something to make change unless it is safer for everyone. He discussed traffic flow during certain times of day and discussed turning lanes. At some later date other changes may need to be made, including closing off or placing separate turning lanes. Signal timing adjustments may also need to be made. . Councilor Dahlquist discussed closing of a middle drive way but wondered if vehicles would be able to get out of the gas station parking lot. Mr. Tames said they are always willing to close off drive ways but need to work with the property owners. Mr. Mirza said with current proposal no driveways are being closed. Mr. Tames said they could talk to the property owner but usually they are not supportive. Councilor Shaver discussed safety issues, surveys and accidents. Councilor Ballew said this issue has been in the works for at least one year and commended staff for their efforts. Staff would schedule this item for action at an upcoming council meeting. Staff clarified that the proposed plan addressed specific areas. . Councilor Shaver said it sounds like new councilors would like to participate in discussion regarding policy. It was agreed that this issue needed to be addressed at this time for this particular area and the overall open process can wait for new council to participate in future discussion. 3. Ordinance Amending Chapter 5, Public Protection and Sections 5.400 Et. Seq. Control of Dogs and Other Animals. . Captain Swenson presented the staff report on this issue. This is a follow-up to the discussion of this issue on August 17, 1998. Staff was directed to research the issue further with city attorney Joe Leahy and report back to council. . . . .. Work Session - Meeting Minutes October 26, 1998 Page 5 By the end of 1998, the Oregon Department of Agriculture will discontinue regulation of wolf-dog hybrids as exotic animals. Regulation of these animals will be returned to local jurisdictions. The proposed ordinance is necessary to provide for local regulation. There are presently two concerns in licensing wolf-dog hybrids under local dog control authority; identification and rabies vaccination. Identification of canine as a wolf-dog hybrid is by declaration of the owner. There is no scientific method to differentiate between dogs and a wolf-hybrid. There is no rabies vaccine licensed for use in wolf-dog hybrids. Any rabies vaccination of these animals is extra-label and cannot be considered a legal vaccinate. Public health officials may require euthanasia of wolf-dog hybrids after they bite a person or are exposed to a rabid animal, regardless of their vaccination status. For these reasons, public safety is best served by ordinances that encourage owners to declare wold-dog hybrid breeds by exempting them from rabies vaccination but regulates how the animal and owner behave. There is no financial impact resulting from the adoption of this ordinance. Council provided direction and approval to go forward with this item. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. Minutes Recorder - Julie Wilson ~ Mayor Pro Tern / Council President Greg Shave ( .~