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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. - ; City of Springfield , 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. City of Springfield 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. City of Springfield 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. ' ~ As of A n12010, the Ore on De artment of Trans ortation ODOT ,the Cit of S rm field and. . P~ g P P ( ) Y P~g 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 City of Springfield 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. r City of Springfield , 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. City of Springfield 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