HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/08/2010 Work Session.City of Springfield
Work Session~Meeting
- MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2010
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Library Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street,
Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, November 8, 2010 at 5:32 p.m., with Mayor Leiken presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Ralston, Lundberg, Wylie, Moore, and Simmons. Also
present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Joe
Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa, and members of the staff.
Councilor Pishioneri was absent (excused).
1. Joint Meeting with the Springfield Arts Commission.
Mayor Leiken welcomed the Arts Commission and noted that Councilor-elect Woodrow was present
as a member of that commission.
Librarian Carrie Schindele-Cupples presented the staff report on this item. The Arts Commission met
with the City Council every other year to share information and discuss common goals and issues of
interest. Tonight's meeting was a chance for them to have that discussion:
Ms. Schindele-Cupples introduced herself to Councilor Moore.
The Arts Commission members introduced themselves and told how long they had served on the .Arts
Commission. Those in attendance were Bob Winkleman (Chair), and members Gary LaClair, PJ
Sargeant, Niles Schartz, Marilee Woodrow, Scott Wylie, and Michelle Lian.
Chair Winkleman acknowledged the amount of talent and experience on the Arts Commission. He
provided a brief background of the Arts Commission. The Arts Commission members were appointed
by the -City Council and provided a small .budget each year. This year, they received a bonus that they
- were able to use to help promote the arts. One of their goals with the leftover funds from that bonus
was to plan a new mural in downtown. He reviewed some of the other events and projects the
commission provided throughout the year. _
. Scott Wylie, chair ~f the City Hall Gallery, spoke regarding the gallery. The Arts Commission
celebrated their 25 anniversary this year and the gallery had been in existence for 21 years. He had
often heard positive comments. from the public and staff regarding the variety of art in the gallery. He
` " noted how they had been able to improve their lighting with a minimum of cost and effort. using
existing lights. They had about nine exhibits forecast for the 2011 year, which would include youth art
exhibits from the school district, outdoor paintings and drawings, a charity exhibit, sculptures and
`crafts. The gallery was a very active aspect of the Arts Commission.
PJ Sargeant spoke regarding the youth arts programs. She said there was a lot of interplay among all of
the projects provided by the Arts Commission. All school children from the school district were
~. invited to participate in the youth art displays, with about ten percent of the artwork being displayed.
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Council Work Session Minutes
November 8, 2010
Page 2
She spoke regarding the Puppet Festival and the workshops available during the festival. Other
workshops were held throughout the year. She noted that many of those that attended the workshops .
were homeschoolers. She was disappointed that more children from the public schools were not
attending because many art programs had been eliminated in the public schools. The commission
would focus on encouraging more public school students to participate. She encouraged the Mayor
. and Council to attend the art show in April.
Marilee Woodrow spoke regarding the Puppet Festival. Next year was the 18~' year of the festival,
which not only included the workshops, .but also a performance at the Wildish Theater.. The kids were
. very involved, motivated, and enthusiastic about this project. It was a very worthwhile program. The
Puppet Show at the Wildish was also an amazing project and kept the interest of all of the audience.
Came Schindele-Cupples spoke regarding Art Alley, including the murals and artwork in downtown
Springfield. This last year they had lost two murals: the "Bob the Dog" mural was gone due to the
demolition of the building; and the "It Ain't Why, It Just Is" mural was gone due to building repairs
where it was located which was destroyed during building repairs. The good news was that,two
independently contracted murals were added this year. One of the commission's priorities was to keep
. the Oregon Trail in good repair, and they were also interested in bringing another mural to downtown.
Mr. Wylie said research showed Springfield's Art Alley to be one of the most extensive collections of
building enhancement art in the country. It was becoming more so as other art projects were being
added, such as the artwork along the LTD routes and the new City sign. All of the privately contracted
murals were instigated by the long procession that led up to them. Art Alley was a remarkable project.
He also spoke regarding the artwork along the EmX corridor. The Arts Commission was working with
LTD on a possible sculpture garden as part of the EmX, incorporating a grouping of Luigi Testa
sculptures, which was a collection maintained by the Arts Commission. This was an early partnership,
but was a proj ect that could come to fruition in the future.
Gary LeClair said they were trying to do more with less. Performance art was one of his favorite forms
of art, such as music and opera. They had some dance at the outdoor festival, which was popular. One
of the commissioners was. working on some music at the Wildish, and they were working on
promoting dance in the community. There were people in the community that had done a great job
with visual arts. He and his wife just moved to Springfield five years ago and enjoyed the progressive.
way Springfield had embraced art. ~.
Mr. Winkleman said one of their self-imposed mandates was to provide the most good for the most
people within their budget.
Councilor Simmons asked if there was a brochure about the murals in Springf eld: At the Friday
market, someone asked about the story behind the Oregon Trail mural. That would be nice to hand out
at the Farmer's market.
Ms. Sargeant said there was a tablet size sheet available at the Museum and the Library about the
Oregon Trail Mural. In the past they had a walking tour of the Art Alley.
Ms. Schindele-Cupples said they needed to update the walking tour brochure. The Oregon Trail paper
guide was still available.
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Council Work Session Minutes
November 8, 2010
Page 3 `
Councilor Simmons said that would be something to coordinate with NEDCO for the Farmer's
Market.
Ms. Sargeant thanked Councilor Simmons for mentioning that guide. The one they used to have was
11 x 17 that folded to a brochure size for the walking tour. At the end of last year they had been talking
about getting it updated before printing.
Councilor Simmons referred to Ms. Sargeant's comment about the art program being cut in public
schools. He asked if they could get information about federal assistance for funding art in the schools.
~ That would be good to communicate to the congressional delegation. Arts and music education paid
-~ back many times over their value in dollars. expended. It would be good to find a way to raise that
question with the federal government. .
Ms. Sargeant said her job was to find out what was .going on at the local schools, but she could also
ask her Congressman. They wanted to use what was already available to get art back into schools.
Councilor Lundberg spoke regarding the art and murals. People didn't stay in downtown, but.rather in
Gateway. She suggested using the murals as a tourist attraction to bring people downtown, with a bus
" that could go back and forth between downtown and Gateway. The art along the EmX corridor on
Pioneer Parkway could be part of the route on the way to downtown. She appreciated the work of the
Arts Commission to promote the arts in our community.
Mayor Leiken said the Springfield Chamber of Commerce had information on the murals.
Councilor Wylie agreed that the Springfield Chamber, City Manager's Office, and Library should all
have information on the murals and the art in town. Since she served on the LTD board, she had
envisioned a historical trolley that could circulate downtown in an `art route'. We had benefited from
our relationship with Lane Transit District (LTD) and the EmX and the art at the stations and along the
EmX corridor. The artist that had done the art on the Pioneer Parkway corridor and the new
Springfield sign was world renown and had done an outstanding job. She thanked the Arts
.Commission for their work.
Councilor Moore asked who sponsored the art walk.
Ms. Woodrow said NEDCO was doing that and had done the Eugene storefront project that the Arts
Commission had been involved with. The Arts Commission wanted to get more involved in that
project and the art walks. They were looking at doing something similar to a Second Friday Art Walk.
Councilor Moore said she was very impressed with the membership on the Arts Commission.
Councilor Ralston said one of their goals was to promote local artists. There was a group in Eugene
that put art in vacant store windows. He thought the Arts Commission could expand on the Art Walk
project by utilizing businesses in downtown that would be willing to put art in their windows.
Councilor Woodrow said they were doing that currently in Springfield.
Mr. Winkelman said they did contact store and building owners to try to get that coordinated, along
with coordinating the right size art for the window. It was somewhat challenging, but they were still
trying.
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Council Work Session Minutes
November 8, 2010
Page 4
Mayor Leiken understood the,limited budget, but asked about family foundations that might be '
interested in art locally. He suggested they start by contacting the Wildish family, Paul Cole from
Rosboro Lumber, or Gretchen Pierce. So much had, been taken out of the schools and youth outreach
was very important. .
Ms. Sargeant said the Arts Commission member who was mostly involved in fund raising was not in
attendance tonight. They would pass the information on to her, '
Mayor Leiken said the murals in Springfield were stunning. He was pleased to hear they were
nationally known.
Councilor Simmons spoke regarding the Puppet Festival. He suggested they contact the public access
television people to do a video presentation they could run on TV. Because of the funding provided to
public. access through franchise agreements, they had offered to do productions that featured
components of Springfield. That would be very beneficial, especially for kids programs. In San
Francisco when the educational access station was created, they did. puppet shows that brought in 30-
40 kids. It was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed them. He noted that students from the A3 School were
filming downtown and encouraged combining that with the kids programs.
Councilor Woodrow said they had a power point on their website from last year's Puppet Festival.
Councilor Simmons asked if Travel Lane County had Springfield's murals on their website. That
would be a great way to promote that venue.
Councilor Moore asked about Oregon Cultural Trust Fund (OCTF) and if the Arts Commission was a
member. She asked if they had a foundation that could take donations.
Discussion was held regarding whether or not the commission was large enough to be able to be part
of the OCTF or a foundation.
Mayor Leiken thanked the commission for attending and sharing.
- Mr. Winkleman thanked the Council for their support. He understood'the Mayor and Council were
also volunteers and he appreciated their work.
2. Main Street (Hwy 126B) Main Street Safety Study.
City Planner David Reesor presented the staff report on this item. The ODOT Main Street Safety
Study was evaluating a 5-mile length of Main Street and would ultimately recommend solutions to
create safer pedestrian. crossings. Currently, it was difficult for pedestrians to safely cross portions of
Main Street due to a lack of signalized intersections and crosswalks. In past work sessions, the City
Council had supported this safety study and asked for periodic progress updates. ODOT's consultant,
DKS Associates, would present a brief project update including schedule, public involvement,
prioritized safety improvement locations, and overall corridor safety strategies.
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Lane Transit District (LTD) had been working together on a safety study of OR 126 (Main Street)
from 20th Street ~to 73rd Street in Springfield. The study was evaluating the 5-mile length of highway
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
November 8, 2010
Page 5 .
and would ultimately recommend solutions to create safer pedestrian crossings. This work session
would provide a brief project update and allow project related input from the Council.
To date; ODOT's consultant, DKS Associates, had worked with the. project team to collect data,
analyze existing conditions, identify priority locations, and analyze improvement altenlatives and
strategies. The project team consisted of staff from ODOT, City of Springfield and LTD. Additional
input had been received from the Study Advisory Group; which included local stakeholders: A public
open house was also held on October 19th, 2010, which solicited additional. public input.
As noted in the power point presentation, a total of 9 locations had been given priority along the
corridor. The prioritization of these locations was based upon data collection and analysis. The
analysis considered the following: current roadway network characteristics; traffic volume; speed, and
classification data; intersection operation performance levels; corridor collision analysis; pedestrian
crossing conflict analysis; pedestrian and bicycle activity; and transit service. This analysis also helped
the project team develop overall corridor safety strategies which were listed in the document included
in the agenda packet.
Analysis of prioritized locations included 51St Street, which was recently constructed by ODOT and
had been operational since October 19th, 2010. Results of the Study confirmed this location as a high
priority. ODOT, LTD and City staff worked closely with adjacent property owners to accomplish the
design, which included new street lighting that was maintained by the City, and pedestrian activated
Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) which were maintained by ODOT. The 51St Street site
would be analyzed in the future to help guide designs of other crossing improvements along the
corridor.
Additional project information could be found on the project website ~at
www.springfieldmainstreet.org, .including existing conditions analysis, pedestrian enhancement
toolbox, and background review documents.
Mr. Reesor introduced Dick Reynolds, project manager from ODOT, Scott Mansur, project manager
from DKS Associates, and Brad Coy from DKS Associates. He distributed a copy of the power point
presentation with an additional page that would be presented during the meeting.
Mr. Reynolds said they had great coordination from LTD, the City and other partners. The work
session was a time to share with the Council where they were in the process, get feedback and answer
any questions of the Council.
Mr. Mansur said the study had been focused on pedestrian safety, but had also looked at operations.
He~described the study comdor. The Technical Advisory Committee had provided direction on the
study and was made up of ODOT staff, City of Springfield staff, and LTD staff. He referred to the
project schedule which started in April of 2010 and was scheduled to continue until.February 2011,. He
. discussed the public involvement piece which had included one on one public stakeholder interviews
with citizens, business owners, transit drivers, etc.; meeting with the study advisory group; and a
public open-house on October. l9 which was well attended.
Mr. Mansur said they had determined some locations for improvements during this process. Nine -
locations were prioritized for pedestrian improvements. He referred to a photo in the power point
presentation that noted those locations. Safety criteria had been developed through the Technical
Advisory Committee to determine the order of importance based on safety criteria. He discussed the
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Council Work Session Minutes
November 8, 2010
Page 6
top six locations which would be addressed in the short term. The 41St Street intersection was the first
priority and the 51St Street area had already been addressed with flashing lights. When deciding on
ways to improve safety, they were looking at things like street lighting and transit stop locations. The
next three locations were midterm.
Mayor Leiken asked why 41St Street was chosen as the number 1 priority since there was a signal at
42nd Street.
Mr. Mansur said he would address that question further in the presentation. He discussed other
corridor safety strategies that were not intersection specific, such as transit stop relocation, pedestrian
timing, phasing at existing traffic signals, speed feedback signs, corridor street lighting, and access.
management. He discussed each of the strategies.
Mr. Mansur discussed the short term improvements including traffic signal pedestrian countdown
timers, left turn phasing modifications, speed feedback signs, and access management plan
preparation. The mid term improvements included transit stop relocations and supplemental lighting.. .
on utility poles. The long-term improvements included new Cobra head lighting. along the entire
corridor and access management plan implementation. .
Ms. Mansur addressed the Mayor's question about 41St Street.
Mr. Reynolds said the distance between 41St and 42nd Streets was about 800 feet, not quite as close as
it looked. Also 41St was not aligned on the north and south sides.
It was noted that there was a high accident and fatality rate at that location.
Councilor Ralston said he understood the priority of 41St Street more than 43rd or 44th because there
was little or no residential across from those. stops
Mr. Mansur said it was difficult to know why people crossed at that location. He showed a slide
showing the businesses in that area. If they provided a pedestrian"crossing ~at this location it could
help, They may also need to move some transit stops.
Councilor Moore said relocating transit stops was .one of the lower priorities.
Mr. Mansur said for the higher priority locations they would use whatever means best improved the
- safety at that location, including moving transit stations. Moving the transit stops for the full corridor
would be a long-term solution done later in the process. LTD had no funding to move all of them. The
study would show the costs and allow them to budget for those future changes.
Councilor Ralston asked who was paying ,and making the improvements.
Mr. Reynolds said ODOT was trying to find funding as they could. They were looking to the City to
help when and if they could. They were all in it together.
Mr. Reesor said at the 51St Street crossing there was a mix of funds and responsibilities.
Councilor Ralston said he liked the speed sign with the speed below it: He felt that would do more to
slow down traffic as it made people more aware.
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Council Work Session Minutes
November 8, 2010
Page 7 .
Mr. Manser said six of those signs were planned along this corridor. During the open house, concerns
.were raised about why there were no pedestrian crossings on Thurston Road. He noted that the LTD
route did not go through that area, and the transit was a huge generator of pedestrian traffic. There was
not a lot of pedestrian traffic in that area in comparison to the rest of the corridor.
Mayor Leiken said it was rare to see people crossing in that area.
. Councilor Simmons referred to relocating the transit stops. He said the inbound side at the 43`~ Street
stop included people coming from the shopping center on the south side. The closed driveway created
issues for some of the businesses that had people bringing in equipment. With the median, anyone
. westbound making a turn into that business would need to make a 180 degree loop, weave to the right
and pull into that driveway. The dynamics of relocating the transit stop put the transit stop west of the
stop sign at a site with poor visibility: If people pulled forward, they could have more accidents. It
looked good on paper, but in the real world needed to be studied carefully.
Mr. Mansur said this was in draft form. They would be meeting with the technical advisory group
tomorrow to talk about this location. They had also gotten good feedback from attendees at the open
. house.
Councilor Simmons said in looking at~the transit stops, they needed to look at the destination and data
available about where the riders were coming from and going to. .
Mr. Reynolds said this was early in the process and they would be getting more information.
Mr. Mansur said when this went to design there would be additional changes and refinements.
Councilor Lundberg asked about the lights that were signal lights for citizens, similar to those on
Harlow Road.
Mr. Mansur said they were not recommending any HAWKS, which were located on Harlow Road. The
lights they were recommending were similar to those on 51st Street.
Councilor Lundberg discussed the speed feedback signs and noted that they were very effective when
she was in Washington. She also noted that the speed limit was strictly enforced there and it was well
known. They used patrol and cameras. She asked if there was discussion about using cameras. She felt .
that was a powerful tool. They were trying to accomplish better awareness and she felt cameras and
ticketing would also help. _
Mr. Mansur said Washington had legislation to enforce from camera radars, but we did not in Oregon.
Mr. Reynolds said Salem. had looked into using cameras and it was very controversial. ODOT was not
recommending that now, but were providing tools, and the speed feedback signs did help.
Mr. Reesor said during one of first work sessions on this topic, the Police Department had indicated
that this was one of heaviest patrolled areas in the City..
Mayor Leiken thanked them for the update.
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Council Work Session Minutes
November 8, 2010
Page 8
3. Other Business ~ .
Mayor Leiken said because he was elected to the office of Lane County Commissioner, there would be
a vacancy for his position as Mayor. He had been conferring with Mr. Grimaldi and Mr. Leahy
regarding filling the vacancy. This week he would submit his resignation with a time certain, possibly
December 3. They would schedule a Work Session on November 22 for the Council to discuss the ..
~- - process for filling the Mayor's position. It had been his honor to serve, and he was looking forward to
his next challenge. Also on November 22, he would be available to preside over the meeting, but
. Council could decide if they wanted him involved.
Councilor Wylie commended'the Mayor for his service. She felt it was important to have the vote with
the current council.
Mayor Leiken said staff had scheduled the appointment on December 6. The new Mayor would be
responsible for the State of the City address in January 2011.
Councilor Wylie said she wanted the City Manager's Office to have a party for outgoing Mayor
Leiken..
Mr. Grimaldi said something would be planned.
.Mayor Leiken said he wanted to make sure Council was comfortable, with the date for the work
session.
Councilor Moore asked if the City Charter was available online. Yes. The City Recorder would
provide the link to her. -
Mayor Leiken thanked Mr. Grimaldi and Mr. -Leahy for their help. They both knew it was a Council
process and decision.
ADJOURNMENT ~ .
The meeting was adjourned at approximately. 6:53 p.m.
Minutes Recorder -Amy Sowa
i~G2 %~~
Mayor
Attest:
~~~ _ .
Amy Sow
City Recor er