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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000.02.16 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES DATE: (02/16/2000) CITY COUNCIL MINUTES February 16, 2000 STATE OF IDAHO) County of Madison) SS City of Rexburg) Present were the following: Presiding:Mayor Bruce Sutherland Council Members:Glen Pond Paul Pugmire Farrell Young Marsha Bjornn Donna Benfield City Clerk:Marilyn Hansen Finance Officer:Richard Horner P.F.C.:John Millar City Attorney:Stephen Zollinger Excused:Kay Beck Pledge to the flag. Motion to approve the minutes for the meeting held January 19, 2000, was made by Paul Pugmire and seconded by Donna Benfield. All voted aye. Introductions of scouts. Mayor Sutherland suggested that John Millar be authorized to petition the FAA to obtain a grant to purchase the property in the RPZ. The County Commissioners have already passed on this item. Glen Pond made a motion to allow John to proceed with this grant, seconded by Marsha Bjornn. All voted aye. Richard Horner stated that he and Stephen had met with TCI, a cable company, to review the franchise contract. A draft of a new contract should be available soon to present to the Council. Public Hearing - Keven Snell and Aaron McCracken Zone Change - ndrd Corner of 2 East and 3 South. John Millar reported on the findings of the Planning & Zoning Commission at the public hearing held last week. Planning & Zoning Commission denied the zone change request. 1 Keven Snell - 3783 East 100 North, Rigby, Idaho Keven presented the floor and plot plan of his project to the council and described what his plans were. He reviewed each of the seven requirements for a zone change and gave what he believed were answers that meet this criteria. An aerial view of the area, which he had obtained from Val Christensen, was shown and reviewed. His opinion is that he is within the bounds as far as set- backs are concerned and that he meets all the City requirements for parking. He addressed the concern of the neighbors about increased traffic and feels there will not be an appreciable change in traffic conditions with this number of cars. Keven feels the safety issue will not be a concern with the building of the duplex and the alley parking issue should not be a concern because there are already cars parking there. nd Bruce Williams - 262 South 2 East, Rexburg, Idaho He feels that Keven’s project is nice looking and he has done a lot of work on it, but Bruce is concerned with the noise level and the parking problem. There are cars parking on sidewalks, lawns, alleys and everywhere you can imagine. He feels that the City requirement of .7 parking spaces is not enough for the number of people in an apartment dwelling. He is concerned about the noise level of the students and having them so close to his property he feels it will be a great nd distraction to property value. A consideration should be the image of the rental properties on 2 South, the sidewalks do not get shoveled, you need to walk in the streets and the properties do not seem to be well taken care of. Bruce does not feel comfortable having that happen to his neighborhood. nd Nyle Fullmer - 236 So. 2 East, Rexburg, Idaho At face value this project looks good as it always does on paper. His experience is that property owners and developers have different interpretations of what something should look like. Planning & Zoning looked at this project, they reviewed each of the 7 points of criteria and made the determination that it did not meet all of the criteria for a zone change. There is a big difference between a duplex that will house 8 people and a duplex that will house 18-22 people. One apartment will house 12 girls and one apartment will have at least 2 adults and possibly several children. It does bring in different traffic than what a residence would do. Keven made the comment that there are up to 15 different properties that access that alley for parking spaces. nd Nyle lives on that block and mentally counted 6 homes that access an alley that leads onto 2 South. Just be aware that Keven’s interpretation is different than what the facts really are. Regardless of what people think the area is still predominantly residential, there are some rentals but they mostly house only 1-2 people. He would encourage the Council to listen to Planning & Zoning and regard their recommendation to not allow the zone change. nd Gary Thompson - 241 So. 2 East, Rexburg, Idaho He does own a small house next to his house that rents to a couple that does approach through the alley. However, it is never rented to more than a couple. He feels entering that duplex from nd 2 East that close to a stop sign is creating a hazard. He is against this zone change. 2 Leona Williams - 262 So. 2nd East, Rexburg, Idaho She feels that putting 9 more cars on that little lot on that corner will become a real safety hazard not only for those that live there but for anyone visiting. She encourages the Council to look at the letters and petitions that were presented last week, listen to their constituents rather than those that are not constituents and consider all of the people and their will in the neighborhood. Please go with that recommendation. Keven Snell - 3783 E. 100 North, Rigby, Idaho He addressed the issue of spot zoning and ask Stephen to address that issue. Stephen feels that it could not be considered spot zoning. Keven knows the parking for the neighbors is a great concern and feels he has done everything to be in accordance with the City’s parking ordinances. nd The backing out issue is minimal, he designed only the manager’s apartment to back onto 2 rd East, the impact from the apartment unit would be using 3 South. Marsha questioned the requirement for the landscaping which Keven replied he does meet. nd Bruce Williams - 262 So. 2 East, Rexburg, Idaho Bruce wanted to call attention to the Council concerning the parking lot. His backyard is just 60' from this lot and there is only a row of trees between them. The noise is going to be coming from there and if he tries to do something in his backyard he will have to contend with all that raucous that comes about. Brooke Passey - 9773 So. Snake River Rd., Rexburg, Idaho Brooke was a former resident of that area and his mother still resides on Cornell Avenue. From his understanding there was an overwhelming majority of neighbors opposed to this zone change at the Planning & Zoning meeting. One of the big issues facing Rexburg is parking. In view of all the apartment complexes there is a lot more on-street parking. The lot at the head of Cornell Avenue was turned into a parking lot and it did alleviate a small portion of the parking problem. The ideal situation for this piece of property would be a parking lot to also help relieve some of that congestion. The reason for this hearing is to listen to the people, get their views and then make a determination if Planning & Zoning has acted in the best interest of the citizens of the community or if there is a reason to change that decision. Keven Snell - 3782 E. 100 North, Rigby, Idaho At the original Planning & Zoning meeting, and not because of his situation, but someone else had brought up the issue of parking on the streets and lawns. Stephen Zollinger commented that this problem has been transferred to a police function rather than a Planning & Zoning function. It should start to be policed a lot more than it has been. The complaint was from a good cross- section of the community and not just a student issue. Mayor Sutherland closed the public hearing and made a couple of points, one about the fact there is not enough parking spaces for the project. Parking is a problem and it needs to be addressed through an ordinance, but as the ordinance stands at this time the parking is in compliance. He addressed the spot zoning which should not be a problem but there is a definite concern with 3 noise and safety. He questioned if by our zoning we are denying usability of this parcel of property. Paul made the Council aware that he lives in this neighborhood but does not see this as a conflict. He questioned Keven as to the issue of 7100 sq. ft. for this parcel. Minimum lot size for MDR1 is 4500 sq. ft. and a minimum lot size for LDR1 is 8000 sq. ft. Keven proposes to fit into the medium density which he feels actually fits better with the use of the land than the way it is currently zoned. Paul also questioned Stephen as to any requirements in the parking ordinance that each space have its own access and egress, and was told there is no prohibition as to access from an alley. Legal liability for the Council and City was mentioned, it was determined this should be discussed in executive session. Glen questioned Keven if he was going to live in this unit and he stated he had no intention of doing so. Marsha asked if it were possible to take that duplex and have less students. Keven replied that to do so was not economically feasible. Paul was not satisfied that he had enough information to vote on this issue, made a motion to table the issue to allow more time to address this in executive session. Motion was seconded by Marsha. Voted aye:Marsha Bjornn Farrell Young Glen Pond Donna Benfield Paul Pugmire None voted nay: This issue will be discussed at the next meeting to be held on March 1. Audit report - Brad Reed, Shane Saunders and Scott Bond from Rudd & Co. recently did the City audit and Brad and Shane were present to give an overview of the audit report for 1999. Motion was made by Glen Pond to approve the audit review, motion was seconded by Paul Pugmire. All voted aye. Senior Center - Ruth Smith and Elaine Anderson, Chairman for the Senior Citizen Center. Elaine explained that the City is presently donating $300.00 per month for the Senior Center, this money is dedicated to payment on the building which payment is $971.00 each month. She explained their need for a new van for food delivery, the present van has 150,000 miles and is in need of repair. They deliver approximately 40 meals each day to the home bound. The County donates $1,000.00 per month, $300.00 of which goes to the payment on the building and the Ferguson Foundation donates the other $300.00. There is an additional $265.00 that goes to 4 ECIPDA each month. Presently they need operating funds. Fund raisers are planned for this summer and they also plan to apply for some grants. The Seniors would appreciate it if the City could raise their donation by $200.00 per month. There was discussion on vans, the type needed, the use, and the possibility of locating a new one. Paul suggested that an additional donation should be tied to a specific expenditure. After some discussion Paul made a motion to give an additional $200.00 per month to the Senior Center to be applied to the debt payment to run through September, this budget year. Motion was seconded by Donna Benfield. All vote aye. Disposal of records - Mayor Sutherland read the request for authorization for destruction of certain records that have been retained for the legal time. Motion to dispose of the listed items was made by Paul Pugmire and seconded by Farrell Young. All voted aye. Review of projects - John reported that the only current project is snow removal, that is caught up and the streets are being swept. Mayor Sutherland introduced members of the staff present that are on the Building Committee, including Richard, John, Marilyn, Janet and Nancy. He discussed City Hall, the number of employees and the lack of face-lifting and maintenance since 1983 and the progress towards a new image and better efficiency that the committee has been working on. Richard explained the staff has created 3 committees including one for Mission Statement, Building and Computer Equipment, the work and progress that has been made with each of these committees. John explained the Building Committee process and modification plans that have been worked out, which plan includes Phase I for immediate action, Phase II is a 1-5 year plan and Phase III is beyond the 5 year plan. He explained the potential rearrangement of the building and offices from the drawings and plans that were presented. Discussion of the remodeling, carpet, furniture and the City Council room, as well as the cost of such a project, the time line for completion, where the funds would come from, and the length of time this building will work and other alternatives. At the present staff growth rate the maximum use of this building would be no more than 5 years. The estimated cost of this project is $57,660. There was some concern from Glen that tearing out the front wall to make the lobby larger would not benefit the space per employee, nor would the remodeling of the City Council room be a benefit for the cost involved. Motion was made to move ahead with the plans for remodeling City Hall as outlined by Farrell Young. Motion was seconded by Marsha Bjornn. 5 Those voting aye:Marsha Bjornn Farrell Young Donna Benfield Paul Pugmire Those voting nay:Glen Pond Paul made a motion for Executive Session which motion was seconded by Marsha Bjornn. Reconvened: Discussion on the recent power outage, things that worked well and problem areas. Stop lights were discussed, they worked fine when the power came on and a short time later the lights went to auto flash. John will check this out. Fire Department and Ambulance Department. These entities should no longer be separate departments but one department under Emergency Services. It was suggested there should be some changes and Stephen recommended that the Council meet with the Fire District and County Commissioners as soon as possible to clarify some policies for legal reasons. An Emergency Service Policy needs to be drawn up, voted on and implemented soon. Glen made a motion to pay the bills, seconded by Donna. All voted aye. Meeting Adjourned. 6