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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/15/2008 Work Session City of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, September 15, 2008 at 6:00 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Lundberg, Wylie, Ballew, Woodrow, and Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members ofthe staff. Councilor Ralston was absent (excused). 1. Storm water Facility Master Plan Final Draft. George Walker, Environmental Services Supervisor for Water Resources, presented the staff report on this item. The Draft Stormwater Facility Master Plan (Plan) has been received from the City's consultant, and is under concurrent review by staff and stakeholders, The following information provides a summary of the purpose of the draft Plan and its implementation. The City's consultant, URS Corp, has submitted the final draft ofthe Plan. The Phase I draft dooument addressing flood control was completed and reviewed with the Council earlier this year. This final draft Plan includes additional detailed elements on water quality, policies and procedures recommendations, and a prioritized list of Capital Improvement Projects. The list of Capital Improvement Projects addresses stormwater volume control or flooding and has been combined with the identified water quality projects identified in the phase II portion of the project. This list will be used to update the Five Year Capital Improvements Program for Public Works. It will also provide data for the Systems Development Charges methodology update and other long range financial planning by the City. The Plan also includes a comprehensive review of Springfield Development Code sections addressing storm water, the Engineering Design Standards and Procedures Manual and the Springfield Storm water Pollution Control Plan for Maintenance Operations, and similar documents from other agencies in the Northwest. Recommendations for revisions to these documents are included in the Plan. These will be evaluated by staff for later inclusion in the proper documents and adoption in separate actions. Staff review and a public workshop are happening concurrently. Media notifications and targeted mailings will occur to the local development community, consulting firms and the Home Builders Association, and is part of a Public Involvement Plan, which was approved by the Planning Commission. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes September 15,2008 Page 2 The project is within budget and funds for completing the Plan are included in the fiscal year 2008 - 2009 Public Works budget. Mr. Walker noted some highlights of the progress made by staff on this project. The new plan included much more than flood control and public safety. We had clean water responsibilities now that we did not have when the first plan was drafted in 1982. He noted some ofthe regulations that needed to be adhered to, as well as sustainability. Stormwater was cross- jurisdictional and came into our boundaries from outside the City and passed through our City to other jurisdictions. Mr. Walker noted that a concurrent review process was currently underway. He explained the need for this process for long-range financial planning. Staff and sister agencies were all reviewing this plan, the public was involved, and formal action would be taken by the Planning Commission and then the City Council. He discussed the public involvement plan in which they gathered information related to problem areas, goals and general comments. A second public workshop was scheduled for September 30. The proposed public hearing before the City Council was scheduled for October 6. Councilor Woodrow referred to page 3-3 in the Table of Contents, and asked for the definition of Hydrological Parameters used in Mike Urban. Mr. Walker explained the numeric model which was designated as Hydrological Parameters. Mike Urban was the numeric model software. Councilor Ballew referred to the map showing the urban growth boundaries. She asked if some ofthose were Eugene's. Mr. Walker said the UGB still included the metro boundary, as it had not yet been separated. The black lines on the map were the water shed service boundaries. The UGB would diverge from that because it was a political boundary, and watershed boundaries crossed those lines in a number of places. He explained further. Councilor Pishioneri referred to the area north of 52nd in the Highbanks area and asked why that area wasn't considered as part of the watershed area. Mr. Walker said there were no public facilities in that area because they didn't have enough data to create master plan projects. Staff was aware of it and a companion project, the Metro Waterways Study, did deal in depth with this area and had a proposal as a natural resource area rather than a public storm water facility area. That was consistent with Council goals in that type of situation. Councilor Pishioneri noted the water swale in that area and said he was concerned about the homes along Highbanks and flooding. Mr. Walker said it wasn't part of this particular plan. An analysis wasn't done as part ofthis plan because there was a concurrent analysis going on with the Corp of Engineers on the flood study City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes September 15,2008 Page 3 of the McKenzie River through that area. That document was the better tool to analyze that area and was due to the City near the first of next year. Councilor Ballew referred to the map. She asked how they determined high and low priorities. Mr. Walker said there was as steering committee and technical advisory committee that worked on the prioritization. Their priorities were based on staff judgments with consultant input. They wrapped in a lot of the analysis that was done through a companion project called the Basin Characterization Study that LCOG helped the City with. That was another concurrent project going on that would be available in final form later this week. Councilor Pishioneri asked about drainage work being done on 69th Street. He asked if they had taken into consideration the invasive vegetation issue with that project. Mr. Walker said in this plan, invasives were not directly addressed, but were addressed in the Basin Characterization Study. The urgency to get the street construction into place pre-empted the planning for storm water along 69th Street. The street was currently being improved and the drainage system would wait. Councilor Wylie asked if there was something that related to the numbers on the map. Mr. Grimaldi said that information was located in the full document. Staff could provide that to Council if needed. Council said they did not need that. Mr. Walker said Council would have the full document available for their public hearing. He hoped to have that in hand on October 8th. Mayor Leiken said Springfield Utility Board (SUB) may be building a new facility and could have water rights on the McKenzie. He asked if this plan could affect that project. Mr. Walker said he forwarded the plan to SUB representatives Chuck Davis and Amy Chinitz for their review and to provide feedback on whether or not it could impact their project. He had not received a reply at this time, but they would have an opportunity to comment. Mayor Leiken said he would like staff to continue communication with SUB as they moved forward with their plans. Mr. Walker noted that EWEB also considered carefully what Springfield did with their plan. Council thanked staff for a good job. 2. Thin Lift Overlay Proposal on Unimproved Streets. Brian Conlon, Maintenance Manager, presented the staff report on this item. In March 2008 the Mayor appointed a citizen panel to assess the current condition ofthe City's transportation system and whether or not transportation activities are adequately funded. One of the items Council directed staff to pursue with the Street Preservation Task Force was to consider possible City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes September IS, 2008 Page 4 alternative preservation treatments to be provided to unimproved City streets where residents have not made the capital investment to bring the street to City standards. The Task Force met twice in April and made a recommendation to City Council that the City modify its current policy of not providing preservation treatments on unimproved streets to provide labor and equipment to perform thin-lift asphalt overlays on appropriate streets if the residents agree to cover the cost of materials. The Council then directed staff to develop a program policy regulating specifics such as financial and project coordination responsibilities of the property owners/residents as well as outlining what the City will provide. The cost of providing thin-lift overlays on unimproved streets would currently run about $lOOK per mile for a 20' wide street, translating to approximately $9.50 per front foot to street centerline. This price will fluctuate because of the volatility of the asphalt market. Maintenance staff has seen good performance from thin-lift overlays lasting up to 10 years, sometimes more depending on traffic and drainage conditions. A list of unimproved street thin-lift overlay candidates thatinc1udes a priority assessment based on condition rating is included as Attachment 3 in the agenda packet. These priorities would be factored into the analysis of requests put forward by citizens. If implemented, staff will market the thin-lift overlay program as a pilot and report back to City Council after one year. Citizen project coordinators will be informed that their project will be balanced with improved street preservation maintenance priorities. Staff estimates that l-2 miles of thin-lift overlays per year can be performed without impacting priority maintenance on improved streets. Mr. Conlon referred to the discussions over the last year with Council regarding this subject, including direction to the Preservation Task Force to look at this issue. Based on the recommendation from the Task Force, staff was prepared with a new regulation. This would be a one year pilot program and staff would report back to Council. He noted that the price of asphalt had increased about thirty-three percent since this was first discussed with Council in April. Councilor Ballew said if someone had 50 feet of frontage, it would cost them about $500. She asked if payments could be made or if they would be required to pay cash up front. Mr. Conlon said they would be required to pay cash up front. If not all houses along the street segment could afford to pay, other homeowners could pay the additional amount in order to get the work done. Councilor Ballew said it was a great idea and if the City was saving money, it was even better. Mr. Conlon said staff predicted saving about $4000 per mile over a seven-ten year period with the thin overlay. Councilor Wylie asked if this process could be done on a street that was already starting to crack and weeds were growing in those cracks. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes September 15,2008 Page 5 Mr. Conlon said they were trying to learn what they could do as they went along. They would be doing several pilot streets. They wanted to achieve an outcome that was satisfactory to everyone. Councilor Pishioneri asked if they were asking for volunteers for the pilot program. He asked what would happen if3 out of 10 ofthe homeowners didn't want to do it. Mr. Conlon said staff had and would continue to work through those kinds of problems with the citizens. The project needed to be coordinated through a community cuordinator with the understanding that the project would be fully funded. Councilor Ballew said coordinators would not be City employees. She asked if the City could give the citizen coordinators assessor maps showing footage for each property and other information in some type of a kit. Assistant Public Work Director Len Goodwin said as people came forward with interest in getting the thin lift overlay, staff would give them the assessor's map, signature sheets, formula for calculating costs, etc. It would be up to the citizens to get all the information and money and bring it back to the City ready to go. Councilor Lundberg said there would be a learning curve for this process for staff and the citizens. She asked about advertising. Mr. Conlon said that was correct. Staff would work with the neighbors and the neighbors would collect the money to bring to the City's fmance department. Marketing was a big piece of it and Community Relations Coordinator Niel Laudati was aware of this. Staff would most likely put together a brochure explaining the program. Councilor Lundberg said a list of which streets were unimproved would be beneficial. Councilor Ballew suggested including in the package of information the cost if the street was to be fully improved. Mr. Conlon said he recalled discomfort by the Council that a program such as this could take away promotion for full improvement of streets. This was not solving the problem, just postponing it. Mayor Leiken asked how much safety was considered in choosing which streets were a priority. Mr. Conlon said it was not part of the Hansen criteria, but would be part of staffs objective analysis. Mayor Leiken asked if the City could put a moratorium on potential development until a street was improved, and if the City would require the developer to pay for the improvement. He felt that was part of the safety issue. Mr. Goodwin said they expected developers to bring their frontage up to standards. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes September 15, 2008 Page 6 ; Mayor Leiken said this discussion led to a discussion of full street preservation. If there were ways to creatively pay for this, such as a reimbursement district, it was worth looking at. To attract young families, the safety factor should be primary. Councilor Pishioneri said to consider slopes and the safety issues related. Mr. Conlon said part of the pilot would be to see how this process worked for slopes. He noted some areas thai were sloped. Mayor Leiken commended Council and staff. This was an important issue for the future of our streets. He thanked Council for realizing how much of a priority this was and also thanked staff for thinking out ofthe box. These were streets, but were also our City's assets. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:35 pm. Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa Attest: Am~ .$uJ~ City Recorder