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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998.08.19 CITY COUNCIL MINUTESDATE: (081998) City Council 8/19/98 7:30 P.M. State of Idaho) County of Madison( ss City of Rexburg) Present were the following: Mayor: Councilmembers City Clerk: Finance Officer: Assistant Engineer: Nile Boyle Bruce Sutherland Glen Pond Marsha 8jornn Kay Beck Nyle Fullmer Farrell Young Rose Bagley Richard Borner Val Christensen Pledge to the flag. A motion was made by Kay Heck and seconded by Farrell Young to approve the minutes. All Aye RE: MAYOR BOYLE LETTER OF RESIGNATION TOPIC: (22,54,,,BOYLE*NYLE,MAYOR) Mayor Boyle read a letter of resignation effective September 15, 1998. (copy on file) RE: BRUCE SUTHERLAND APPOINTED NEW MAYOR TOPIC: (22,54,,,SUTHERLAND*BRUCE,MAYOR) A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Kay Beck to appoint Bruce Sutherland as mayor effective September 15, 1998. He will serve until January 2000. A11 Aye to the motion Bruce Sutherland read a letter of acceptance and appreciation for service with Mayor Boyle and far the city council support. RE: RESOLUTION REGARDING IDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER DICHARGE PERMIT TOPIC: (22,54,RE5,98-03,WASTEWATEA DEPT.) Kay Beclc introduced Resolution: 98-03 "A Resolution indicating the authority that is designated to sign the Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permits or related documents." Copy on file. A motion was made by Kay Heclc and seconded by Bruce Sutherland to approve Resolution98-03. A11 Aye RE: RIBBON CUTTING FOR NATURE PARK & BIKE PATH TOPIC: (22,54,,,BIKE PATH,NATURE PARK) Marsha 8jornn discussed that she felt we need to have Ribbon Cutting for the Bike Path and the Nature Park. The mayor said he had talked to H & K and almost everything is done down there. The main thing is to asphalt that last bid. Val stated that they felt they could et art pretty quick if they could roll it into another project. After that is done it should be finished pretty soon. We have a request from the state, they would like to come over and be to the ribbon cutting. We need to set a time and send out invitations. The council decided to set it for September 15. RE: REQUEST TO REPAIR DRIVEWAY AT SENIOR CENTER TOPIC: (22,54,,,SENIOR CENTER,2ND E,DRIVEWAY) Nyle Fullmer stated that he had been approached that the driveway south of the Senior Center is really deteriorating. Is there anyway we can repair that? The county said they would put it in their budget for next year. Possibly the city could patch it. _, Bruce Sutherland gave a report from Planning & Zoning. RE: PUBLIC HEARING FOR APARTMENTS SOUTH OF OLD HAOULIMS TOPIC: (22,55,,,TAGGERT*KEVIN,PUBLIC HEARING,ZONE CHANGE,C.U.P., APARTMENTS ) Mayor Boyle read the notice of Public Hearing for Kevin Taggert. A Public Hearing held regarding the proposed actions: (1) changes of the ~•:---- Rexburg, Idaho, Zoning Ordinance #725, that the property located on south 1st West between Main Street and West 1st south be zoned High Density Residential (H.B.D.), rather than Central Business District (C.H.D.) and Medium Density Residential (M.D.R.) as it is presently -`"' zoned. (2) That the owner of this property be granted a Conditional Use Permit to allow for a 40 unit apartment complex, contingent upon the re-zone of the property. Val presented the plans. Planning & Zoning checked the plans and recommended that they go ahead with it contingent of the departmental approval. It is in the process right now. They are making some small changes that have been recommended. (He explained the plan). Pete Thompson- 135 South 1st West- He asked about the traffic problem. Val reported on the traffic count and accident report. The mayor stated when school starts, the State of Idaho is going to do a traffic count on lst West and Main to see if a stop light is justified there. Pete said the count now doesn't really tell you anything. On South 1st West there is already 12 apartment complexes. He counted each one of their parking places and there was 564 parking places. If they could exit onto another street, he only counted 1/2 of their parking places. 564 cars are going to come out on South 1st West and this apartment complex will add 180 more. There will be 746 cars going past his house every day which is about 3.1 every minute. He is glad to see something going in that vacant lot. He felt the P & Z were interested in the zoning but not the planning. He is concerned about he traffic whether you deal with it with one way traffic or 4-way stop signs. To get across 2nd South cars are backed up clear to his house. He would like a 4-way stop signs on those intersections. The Mayor felt traffic signals should never be used to control traffic speed and a 4-way stop should never be put in unless it meets requirements after a traffic study. We over abuse the use of stop signs. He felt a 4-way stop should not be there unless an extensive traffic study is done and there is a lot of traffic going both ways. Jim Lofthouse- 36 Harvard- The 4-way stop signs on 2nd East does control speed. He felt we have a terrible speed problem in Rexburg and something needs to be done. Kevin Taggert- He is the developer of the property. They are proposing 40 units. They have tried to accommodate the traffic by having four exits to different streets to help the traffic flow. They have bought the Ricks home for a manager's home and to have some traffic go out that way as well. As you look around the area there are surrounding apartments. He use to attend Ric)cs College and he had watched that piece of property and felt that was a prime location for an apartment. He does not like to drive around and see nothing but parking lots, so they have tried to keep the parking in the back and put the nice looking building out in front. He felt it would be an excellent asset to the city. He felt they were in conforming with what was there. Kay Beclc- He stated that maybe we could talk to the police about the speeding. The mayor said we need to check a lot of places in the city for speeding and maybe we need to slow the traffic down. Glen Pond stated we don't know what the volume is because school is not in session. Val told the council that both Joe Laird and John Millar felt that even with school in session the road was not at full capacity. Nyle Fullmer discussed how busy the road is going past his house and there are times when it is inconvenient but they made a decision to live where they are and he has not always been to thrilled with the way thing have gone on that street but they have had to except the ways things are. With going along with what Planning & Zoning has made a recommendation and we need to be receptive with their comments and look, at the traffic and plan for the future. The mayor explained that property has been vacant for several years and the property owner has a right to use it for something. it is in an area that this use is as good as any. Glen asked why when we re-zoned wasn't it zoned H.D.R. when we just ~'~" went through our re-zoning? The mayor explained the when RaNae McGee walked the streets in Rexburg to check out the zoning, everything was zoned for the use at that time unless at that time it was requested to ,. be zoned different it was zoned for the land use at that time. Glen felt that if there was no input to change it then the owners wanted it to remain as it was zoned. He felt we need to be more careful when we re-zone. Bruce stated as Planning & Zoning discussed it, they asked which would be more evasive to the area business or apartments? It is surrounded mostly by apartments and some businesses. The whole area seemed to be drifting toward apartments rather than low density residential or business. A motion was by Nyle Fullmer to follow the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning to approve the Zone Change to H.D.R. but to take special note of the traffic as requested by the local residents. Seconded by Farrell Young. Glen Pond voting nay, all other Councilmembers voting aye. Motion carried. A motion was made by Ny1e Fullmer to follow the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning to grant the conditional Use Permit to allow them to build 42 unit apartments. Seconded by Kay Beck. Glen Pond voting nay, all other Councilmembers voting aye. Motion carried. RE: PUBLIC HEARING FOR RANDY BIRD APPROVED TOPIC: (22,56,,,BIRD*RANDY,2ND E,APARTMENT,C.U.P.) Public Hearing far Randy Bird. Public Hearing regarding the proposed issuance of a Conditional Use Permit to allow for 42 unit apartments at about 455 South 2nd East. Val presented the plans and explained them. This was approved by the Planning and Zoning contingent upon departmental approval. The concern of the neighbors was that there would not be any exits on Harvard and Mr Bird has designed it so all exits will be on 2nd East. The mayor read the conditions as recommended by the Planning & Zoning. Jim Lofthouse- 360 Harvard Ave- Their concern is they have the required number of parking places but that is never adequate. Their concern is if you allow pedestrian access from Harvard Ave it will become an additional parking lot because there will be easy access. They would like a barrier that makes it not easy for pedestrians to park their car and walk over to the apartments. If they park on Harvard they will - drive down Harvard. Glen suggested parking on only one side of Harvard. The developer stated they was adverse to putting up a big fence. One .---. reason is if emergency vehicles need access to that side of the property, the fence would not allow them to do it. They could drive over the landscaping but a fence would not allow them to do it. They are going to go to great lengths to landscape this and make it look ' nice. They feel a fence that would adequately restrict pedestrian traffic would defeat their purpose of building a nice landscaped place. They have agreed to put in mounds and huge rocks to stop the vehicular traffic onto Harvard and feel a fence would detract. They have no problem with discouraging vehicles from parking but on the other hand people will park where they want to park. Mr Lofthouse requested that it be fenced off. He said if they can't walk there they won't park there. (discussion) Marsha noted that there was a letter from the college in all the council packets requesting pedestrian cross walk and signs on 2nd East. A motion was made by Nyle Fullmer and seconded by Kay Beclc to approve the Conditional Use Permit as recommended by the Planning and Zoning. All Aye RE: STREET FUNDING REGARDING THE MILL LEVY TOPIC: (22,57,,,PUGMIRE*PAUL,NATURE PARK,SKATEBOARD PARK,POLICE) Richard gave a handout on Street Funding (on file) regarding the Mill „_...._ Levy. He explained. It coos decided that the council would have a work session on Tuesday 25 at 6:00 A.M. to discuss the election and work for the Mi11 Levy. '' Paul Pugmire was at the meeting to discuss the location of the Skate Park. After the last meeting and they heard the opposition from the property owners living around Porter Park. They looked at some other locations and have decided on a 1 acre of land at the Nature Park. This property is inside the boundary of the Street Maintenance Shop next to the Nature Park. The Fence could be moved over to include it in the park. It is on the North East side of the park. It is on a hillside and there will need to some excavation done. They have met with the county and they will supply heavy equipment- for excavation and will also donate fill. This will be right next to the bike path. It is more isolated but they are working with the skaters to police it themselves and also the police go down there on a regular bases. They plan on starting Mid April and complete it by July 1999. He had submitted the grant application. A motion was made by Farrell Young to accept the proposal for the skate park location. Seconded by Bruce Sutherland. All Aye The council thanked Paul for all the work he had done on this project. The next council meeting will be September 2 at 7:00 A.M. The mayor stated the council would now go into an executive session on a personnel matter. Reconvened. RE: BI^ ON TRAFFICS SIGNAL AT WILCOH PROJECT TOPIC: (22,57,,,WILCO% & SONS,TRAFFIC SIGNAL) The mayor told the council we had a bid for a traffic signal by the Wilcox Project of $132,000 from Wheeler Electric. John Millar said it was a good bid and recommended that we award the bid to them. A motion was made by Nyle Fullmer and seconded by Kay Beck to accept the bid from Wheeler Electric. All Aye A motion was made by Kay Beck and seconded by Marsha Bjornn to accept the resignation of Dave Thibault. A11 Aye A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Nyle Fullmer to pay the bills. All Aye Meeting adjourned. ~ ~ ~ /„ City Clerlc, RosevBagl~ Mayor, N'le L. Boyle 4~