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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005.03.02 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES T ORM F EQUEST R RAVEL CCM ITY OUNCIL INUTES March 02, 2005 7:30 P.M. City Council STATE OF IDAHO ) : ss County of Madison ) Present were the following: Mayor: Mayor Shawn Larsen Council Members: Paul Pugmire Donna Benfield Nyle Fullmer Rex Erickson G. Farrell Young Irma Anderson Financial Officer Richard Horner P&Z Administrator: Kurt Hibbert City Clerk: Blair D. Kay PFC: John Millar City Attorney: Stephen Zollinger Pledge to the Flag Roll Call of Council Members: All Council Members were present. Consent Calendar: The consent calendar includes items which require formal City Council action, however they are typically routine or not of great controversy. Individual Council members may ask that any specific item be removed from the consent calendar for discussion in greater detail. Explanatory information is included in the City Council’s agenda packet regarding these items. A. Minutes from the February 16, 2005 meeting B. Approve the City of Rexburg Bills Council Member Young moved to approve the consent calendar; Council Member The motion carried. Benfield seconded the motion; all voted aye, none opposed. Public Comment on issues not scheduled on the agenda (limit 3 minutes) Leslie Taylor , a student at BYU-Idaho, is trying to help raise money for a 14 year old boy who lives in Rexburg whose name is Anthony Robbins. Anthony goes to Madison Jr. High School and he is in need of a kidney transplant. The cost of the kidney transplant for the family alone will cost $20,000 and that is after insurance. She asked the City Council’s support to have a 5k run in the City. The run will be th held on April 16 starting at 9 a.m. They plan to have the run start at the Madison Middle School and loop around in that area. Anthony received a kidney from his mother and it failed last year and he has been on dialysis since then. They have been selling hope bracelets to help raise money. Anthony’s sister showed pictures of him. They are requesting a list of addresses from the Teton Dam Marathon last year so they can send out information about the run. They are requesting permission to use the City streets and have police support in the intersections. They would also like to do a one mile or five mile walk so they can get 1 as much participation from the public as possible. They have already applied for a parade permit from the Clerk’s office. Council Member Benfield moved to lend City support for the run by using the City streets, help by blocking off the streets, and what ever else they need; Council Member Fullmer seconded the motion; Discussion: Council Member Young asked how much the fee was to run. Leslie commented that the registration fee is going to be $10.00. Every expense for the race is going to be donated (i.e. silk screening for the t-shirts). Mayor Larsen commented that they have a layout for a course for the Leslie Taylor 5k run in the Teton Dam Marathon. wants to help because she believes that everyone should have the opportunity to live a happy, healthy life. Leslie’s Father is the Director of the National Kidney Foundation and she learned about The motion carried. Anthony through her father. All voted aye, none opposed. John Bagley at 4813 South 3300 West met with City Council a few weeks ago to propose a museum at the City/County Airport. He has also met with the County Commissioners and the Airport Board concerning the proposal. City Attorney Zollinger has reviewed the contract document concerning the proposed issues set forth in the contract. John is looking to the City Council for permission to go ahead and start the project. City Attorney Zollinger commented that the proposal involves the creation of museum at the Airport. He reviewed the request to have a land lease from the City on a portion of property at the City/County Airport assuming that the FFA would have the final approval. The City would require compliance with the City ordinances. The building could not be a traditional commercial type use. The museum would be a not for profit museum that is associated with a number of museums across the country. The set backs will be taken care of in the lease. It would be a standard City/County Airport lease to Mr. Bagley. The City would then lease back the facility from Mr. Bagley after the building has been constructed. The management of the museum would be covered under the City with a management group consisting of three representatives that will be associates with Mr. Bagley. Council Member Pugmire asked if the City Attorney is ok with the contract. City Attorney Zollinger commented that a similar setup was in place at the Boise Airport. Council Member Pugmire moved that the City Council express its support for this project as embodied in and represented by the proposal summarized by legal Council, instructing Mr. Bagley to go ahead with that understanding and hold the final approval of the contract until the City Council has reviewed it; Council Member Fullmer seconded the motion; Discussion: Council Member Young asked if there was anything in the contract that provides a stipulation of what would happen to the building if Mr. Bagley was no longer around. City Attorney Zollinger commented that an (LLC), limited liability company, would represent the Bagley’s interests and that the airport crowd would be represented in the LLC. They are building everything to code. Council Member Benfield asked if the contract addresses a second phase. Mr. Bagley commented that a second phase is not addressed at this time. Right now they are talking about one building. Council Member Pugmire thanked Mr. Bagley The motion for accommodating some of his requests. All voted aye, none opposed. carried. Mayor Larsen introduced Jacob Adams as an elected representative of the BYU- Idaho student body. Rob Dudley was also introduced as Jacob’s replacement. Mayor Larsen introduced Jared Mangum, a BYU-Idaho student, who is involved with Rexburg 101. New Business: Approve A. Mayor’s Youth Advisory Board Bylaws Mayor Larsen introduced some of the participants of Rexburg 101. Tracy Stephenson and Brandon Bradshaw presented bylaws of Mayor’s Youth Advisory 2 Board. Tracy Stephenson had written and submitted bylaws for the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Board. The Mayor’s Youth Advisory Board made a motion and passed the bylaws. Council Member Pugmire moved to adopt the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Board bylaws as presented; Council Member Erickson seconded the motion; all voted aye, The motion carried. none opposed. Service Award B. in Memory of Norman Ricks Mayor Larsen presented Bernice Ricks with a plaque for her late husband, Norman Ricks, for his 9 years of service on Tabernacle Civic Center Committee. Bernice commented that she has been reading Norman’s journal and every day it talked about how he was over at the Tabernacle helping with the facility such as planting, weeding, and watering the flowers. Beautification Committee Proposal C. - Glen Crawford and Gerald Griffith Beautification committee. rd Glen Crawford Gerald Griffin at 319 Rodney Drive and at 352 South 3 East have been working on sign designs for the City of Rexburg. Gerald commented that they wanted to adopt a more professional look for the signs in Rexburg. He wants to have a City identity. He showed pictures identifying the features they are proposing. The City has several sign styles and designs that need to be consolidated into one style. The Beautification Committee has proposed to adopt a craftsman or mission style look for the community. The Beautification Committee would like to improve the off-ramps putting “Welcome to Rexburg” signs at those locations. They want off ramps to be beautiful with low maintenance. Gerald received some suggestions of using low maintenance material including wild grasses, evergreen trees, decorative boulders, and wild flowers. Gerald mentioned that the look will go well with the proposed new street lamps. They showed a sketch of the signs on the overhead screen. They plan to have the same type of signs in the City Parks and other historical landmarks in Rexburg. Keola Keahiolalo , the City Parks Foreman, commented that he has been looking at off-ramp designs and he has done some research on the location of the closest water line is 200 feet away from the project; so the project will have to be low maintenance watering. Council Member Pugmire thanked them for their superb work He had one minor suggestion that if there are going to be rock landscaping on the off-ramps; then they should be at a smaller safer size of rocks. Council Member Benfield congratulated the Beautification Committee for their hard work on the proposal. The Council instructed the Committee to move forward with the project. Downtown Revitalization Final Report D. - Tom Hudson Tom Hudson gave a report on the Downtown Revitalization project. Their conclusion was to proceed with building a revitalization blue print for downtown Rexburg. He feels that Rexburg has more potential for the downtown area. Tom wanted to layout a system for the blueprint framework. He handed out the blueprint plan to the Council Members. In the back of the plan there are a set of references. The blueprint looked at the City, Community and County for revitalization. They want to emphasize that the downtown area is a pedestrian friendly atmosphere. We need to remember that this is “America’s Family Community”. Tom mentioned “that goal needs to be kept”. They wanted to bring forth do-able projects that can get done. He commented “everything needs to be looked at like whom, when, and how 3 the projects will be done”. There are two principles to emphasize: 1) “America’s Family Community” and 2) “A pedestrian friendly downtown area”. Tom commented that many people give guidance and appreciate participation through the newspaper and through the survey on the website. The City needs to make sure that people are aware of downtown issues and the roles they can play in the process. Tom reviewed a five point strategy in moving forward with downtown revitalization: 1)Teamwork 2)Supply 3)Place 4)Connection to markets 5)Resources He commented that commitment is a main key. Tom reviewed over eight projects: 1)Improve access: Signage and Streets 2)Refine Circulation: “To” and “Thru” Routes 3)Enhance Parking: On and Off-Street 4)Create a College Avenue District 5)Demonstration Block; Central Plaza 6)Enhance Pedestrian Amenities 7)Increase Implementation Capacity 8)Build Stronger Partnerships and Teams Tom recommended having a median on Main Street while keeping diagonal parking with one lane going each way. He recommended putting in turning lanes. Tom discussed the issue of lack of signage for gateways to Rexburg showing where the downtown area is located and where parking lots are located. They did a study and on street parking in Rexburg and found that there are 689 parking street stalls and 2,563 off-street parking stalls. The demand for parking is 3,286 parking stalls. This shows a shortage of 34 parking stalls. The study showed adequate amount of parking in some locations and a shortage of parking in other adjacent areas. The courthouse block shows the highest shortage of parking. Tom commented that College Avenue needs to be the gateway from the University to the downtown area. The street could have archways for a sense of arrival. Tom showed the possibilities for block 34 where the courthouse is located which included more parking areas, turning the old CO-OP building into a plaza, and putting a statue or monument in front of the courthouse. Tom mentioned that the plaza could be made into an activity center for events that could be held on the weekends. An emphasis needs to be put on families including what can be done for the children. Tom recommended putting spraying water fountains in the downtown plaza with a play area for children. These ideas could be introduced to local service clubs and volunteers that would be interested in taking on downtown projects. Tom commented that every weekend we could have music for four months out of the year in the downtown plaza. Tom emphasized that in the winter lighting would improve the downtown atmosphere because people come to work in the dark and go home in the dark. It is important to have great lighting. Tom commented that the Jr. High still remains a challenge for the Community. It may not always be at that location. He discussed possible funding for projects that could be spread out a span of years. He showed a timeline of things that could be done and the costs that are involved. Tom recommended the next step for the City and RDA was to adopt the blueprint as partners and promote the blueprint to resource entities by involving the press and the 4 community. This is a team building effort with organizing and then to initiating the blueprint. Council Member Pugmire commented they have adopted the guiding principles of the Development Ordinance. Council Member Pugmire asked what of the blueprint beyond what they have done do they need to codify? Tom commented that the best way to adopt the blueprint is to adopt it in the Comprehensive Plan as the downtown program. Council Member Pugmire commented that they should hear from the Downtown Vision Committee before they comment further on this proposal. Downtown Vision Committee Report E. - Jon Weber Jon Weber with Downtown Vision Committee thanked all those who worked and helped on the Committee. He spent many hours on Committee issues and participated in the Community Review. He would like to challenge the Council Members to read the plan and commit to putting it into action and budget funding to continue to have a consultant come back and review the Community. Tom has been a tremendous resource to areas that they have not thought about. Mayor Larsen commented that the Committee has talked about the vision the downtown area and what downtown should become in the future. Council Member Pugmire talked about the need to establish a committee to implement what Mr. Hudson was proposing. Kurt Hibbert commented that there should be two committees. There should be a Development Review Committee and a Design Review Committee. Kurt commented that it could be a sub committee of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Council Member Erickson feels that the Planning and Zoning Commission wrote the Development Code Book and he doesn’t think that they should micro manage the Planning and Zoning Commission. He feels that they have the people in place in the Planning and Zoning Commission and they should give them the opportunity to do their job. Tom commented that the developers want to be involved. Council Member Erickson recommended having the Planning Commission provide the planning information to the developers for review after the Commission’s review process is complete. Resolution 2005-02 F. Re-designation of Hwy 33 with Business Loop Council Member Pugmire moved to amend in the last paragraph after the word business loop put in the words “as described in this resolution”. Council Member Pugmire changed his motion to add the words “as described above” after the words City of Rexburg and before the semi colon in the third line of the last paragraph. Council Member Fullmer seconded the motion; Discussion: Mayor Larsen commented if they do not reach an agreement with Sugar City, he still believes based on Mr. Hudson’s information that they need to go ahead and classify our current State Highway 33 as a business loop. He recommended coming back with another Resolution if it is not agreed upon. All voted aye, none opposed. The motion carried. Council Member Pugmire moved to adopt Resolution 2005-02 as amended; Council The motion carried. Member Fullmer seconded; All voted aye, none opposed. th Annexation request G. for 4.3 acres at 975 S. 12 West- Rexburg Motor Sports Mayor Larsen commented that this is to make the Council aware of a request of th annexation at 975 South 12 West for 4.3 acres. They had discussion on where the parcels are located. The property is contiguous with the city limits on the south side. 5 The Council requested this application to move forward to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Calendared Bills and Tabled Items: First Reading: Bill No. 934 - Franchise Agreement Renewal with Intermountain Gas Council Member Pugmire moved to consider Bill No. 934 as first read; Council The motion carried. Member Erickson seconded; All voted aye, none opposed. Third Reading: Bill No. 911 - Booting parked cars City Attorney Zollinger commented that Bill No. 911, in its current form, is the same as it has been since it came back for first reading at the beginning of the year. There have been no changes to the form. He commented that it is not that the Apartment Owners don’t like the bill, it is better than any alternatives that have come their way. There is a majority of apartment owners that will not object to the bill. Council Member Benfield has been contacted by many people and they have commented that if they had to go with one or the other, they will go with Bill No. 911. They are not opposed to the bill; most of them said that most of the bill is doable. The part that they are opposed to is where the owner or the manager has to be present to sign. Council Member Benfield commented that she is not sure if she is ready to have this bill third read. She would like to see them work on it and come up with something. She knows that everyone will not be happy no matter what, but she feels that there could be some changes. Council Member Fullmer commented that as the discussion goes on, the things that bother them the most is the stories they have heard more than once about predatory booting. He asked City Attorney Zollinger if there is anything in the ordinance that penalizes for predatory booting. He asked if the problems would be solved by having the managers or the owners sign for the tow or the boot. City Attorney Zollinger commented that there is currently no regulation that prohibits predatory booting or towing. The owners wanted the towers and the booters because there was a parking problem. For a period of years it has been up to the owners to have the cars towed or booted. Up to the point where the booters came into town, the manager or the owner was always involved. There was an incident last night where a permitted car was booted because the permit was not visible. The car would not have been booted if the manager was involved. Council Member Erickson commented that Bill No. 911 is the best thing that they have right now and believes that it still has some work that has to be done on it. Darren met with him and they talked about the apartment owners that want different things and none of them want the provision that the owner or manager has to sign to have cars towed or booted. He suggested that Darren should go back to the group that he represents and let the come up with an idea. Council Member Pugmire commented that this is a problem and it is not going to go away. He thinks that doing nothing is inadequate. He recommended that they go ahead and adopt the bill and put it into ordinance and see how it works. He suggested putting in the bill something about numbered stalls required, outlaw booting, and keeping towing without managers/owners consent; however, they must have a contract that allows towing in their parking lots. In his view, he thinks that it is wrong for booting and feels that it is vandalism. If the car is in the wrong place then by booting it to keep it there should not be possible because it is a safety issue. Council Member Pugmire recommended waiting on the third reading of the bill until additional clarification to the bill could be completed. Council Member Erickson feels that the apartment owners should designate courtesy parking and they need to accommodate people who come to visit. They need to designate and put a time limit on it. 6 Greg Johnson at 3680 West Cottonwood Drive commented that visitor parking would not work. Council Member Pugmire suggested that they need to sell as many apartment contracts as they have car stalls. Greg Johnson talked about sitting in meetings for hours with other apartment owners and they can not please everyone. He thinks the assigned stalls would not work due to snow covering the parking stall lines. Council Member Benfield reminded everyone that they have had complaints that people have been booted in City parking lots. It is not only in apartment parking lots. Council Member Young asked if Winter Street parking restrictions is a problem. Greg commented that the problem is not only in the winter, the problem is all year round. Eric Bresmen at 438 West Main mentioned that from a students stand point, parking has not been an issue for him. He feels that the numbered stalls are not the answer. He feels that parking does need to be controlled. He has been booted three times and has done nothing wrong. The booting incident has been resolved but he feels that it was an inconvenience. Lieutenant Ron Larson , Rexburg Police Department, asked Greg Johnson what the biggest complaint was with signing for cars to be booted. Greg commented that the managers or owners did not want to go out late at night, but he can not speak for all of Lieutenant Larson the other owners. feels that if it is a big problem, then the owners should be at the meetings. Virginia Pratt , apartment owner, commented that she doesn’t even have a problem with calling a tow truck to go and tow a car. Lieutenant Larson feels that there is no reason to delay passing this bill. Council Member Benfield reported that a person told her that they are worried about the owner being out of town, and if the husband was out of town, the wife did not want to go out and sign to have a car towed or booted and leave her kids alone in the apartment. There was discussion that the ordinance could allow an owner, manager, or designated person sign to have a car towed or booted. It does not have to be just an owner or manager. Council Member Pugmire commented on his willingness to pass this bill, but he would like to see if people can come up with something. Eric Bresman feels that if they are an owner of an apartment, then they should designate a person to sign for a car to be towed or booted. Council Member Anderson commented that the owner has some responsibility and they are receiving an income from their property. She does not see any excuse because it is the responsibility of an apartment owner. Darren Helm commented that they have made mistakes for towing or booting a car. He thinks that the issues won’t go away with an ordinance. He doesn’t think that the ordinance is the answer and thinks there are good things about towing or booting. He thinks that the manager or owner should not have to sign a release. Students know how to work the system. He doesn’t know where the predatory booting concept originated. Josh Donat (reporter for the Standard Journal) commented about being booted and thinks this ordinance would put someone out of a job. He thinks that there needs to be more parking altogether. There is a need to allow for patrolling parking lots. He 7 doesn’t think that it is the RA’s (residential student assistants’) responsibility for taking the brunt of someone’s car being towed or booted. Council Member Anderson wants to see if the apartment owners can give some suggests for Bill No. 911. City Attorney Zollinger commented that commercial parking lots are not governed by this ordinance; it is only residential parking lots. Mayor Larsen commented that this bill will stay on the agenda for the next meeting. City Council Report: Council Member Anderson reported that the Museum Committee met and they are trying to get organized by looking at new people to add to the Committee. They had a BYU-Idaho student intern take pictures and interview Terrell for a history report of the Museum. Council Member Fullmer - None Council Member Pugmire - None Council Member Erickson reported that there was an Airport Board meeting today. The John Bagley Museum was talked about at length and they liked it and brought up interesting issues on safety. The FAA may require a fence. The property appraisals will be in next week and then they will work on closing the deal. He reported that the old ditch that runs in front of the hangars is going to have to be filled. Council Member Benfield is excited about Beautification Committee and their projects. Joe Allen has worked closely with the Transportation Department concerning the entry way proposals. The Committee will now hold its meetings at st noon on the 1 Friday of every month instead of 8 a.m. on the second Friday of every month. The Committee has approved flower pots for the downtown area. The upcoming events for flowers are the April clean-up of the flower beds and Pride Days in June. Council Member Young reported that the next Community Orchestra concert will be th on Wednesday, March 30 at 7 p.m. Mayor’s Report Mayor Larsen reported that the first Rexburg 101 went well. Their next meeting will be with Department Heads next week. The Madison Trails committee meets tomorrow. Jerry Hastings recommended that we move the Council reports, the Mayor’s report and John Millar’s Project Reports to the beginning of Council meeting. There will be a form for each of the Council Members to take to their Committee meetings for the Committees to bring forward in a formal way a recommendation. Jerry’s frustration was that he wasn’t sure that the Council was hearing about the Planning Committee’s recommendations. Council Member Pugmire thinks it is a good idea and it should come from the Committee liaison to the City Council. The City Council should control the agendas for the Committee meetings and input for the agenda could come from the Mayor and Council. All Committees should have solid City Staff support. The next agenda, the City Council will see the Council Reports switched around to the beginning of the agenda. Report on Projects: John Millar reported that he had just received a State/local agreement on the Rexburg South Arterial. The State is asking the City to adopt a Resolution that increases the funding $2.937 million. Mayor Larsen read Resolution 2005-03. 8 Council Member Pugmire move to designated Resolution 2005-03 as read; Council Member Fullmer seconded the motion; all voted aye, none opposed. The motion carried. John reported that the Engineering Department is looking at the collection systems. They have determined that on the north side of City Hall along the alley for a block and a half the line will have to be replaced. They are looking to extend services to the properties of Rexburg Motor Sports and John Deere property on 12 West by the South exit to Rexburg. Their cost for the water line to serve those areas will be $200,000. The city will front $300,000 of the cost. The Engineering Department is working their way through the roundabout design for ndth 2 West and 4 South. They have met with property owners and they will have the project out for bid in the near future. Mayor Larsen reported on training with FEMA in Emmetsburg, Maryland. The group realized that they need to work on an emergency plan with the City and the County. The County has received a grant to help put together a plan so the City will be working with the County on that plan. Adjournment ______________________________ Shawn Larsen, Mayor Attest: __________________________________ Blair D. Kay, City Clerk 9