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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 06.15.1993Minutes of the City Council of Laurel June 15, 1993 A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Laurel, Montana, was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by Mayor Charles Rodgers at 7:00 p.m.~ on June 15, 1993. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Norman Orr Lonnie Kellogg L.D. Collins Ron Marshall Donna Kilpatrick COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Gay Easton Bob Graham Albert Ehrlick INVOCATION: Invocation was given by Alderman Collins. MINUTES: Motion by Alderman Marshall to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of June 1, 1993, as presented, seconded by Alderman Collins. Motion carried 5--0. CORRESPONDENCE: Received the spring newsletter from the Montana League of Cities and Towns. Received a "Report to the Membership" from the Montana League of Cities and Towns regarding the 1993 legislature. CITY CLERK & CITY TREASURER'S FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: The City Clerk and City Treasurer's financial statements for the month of May were presented. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick that the City Clerk and City Treasurer's financial statements for the month of May, 1993, be approved, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 5--0. PUBLIC HEARING - ZONE CHANGE: This being the time and place advertised, a public hearing was held. PROPONENTS: Duane Loken stated he works for the consulting firm, in Billings and is here representing Martin and their son Wait. Engineering Inc. Rose Nussbaum and They are requesting a zone change for Tract A, Certificate of Survey No. 2385, which is a five acre tract located at the southeast corner of Washington Avenue and East Maryland Lane. This tract of land is currently zoned R7500 and the developer would like an R6000 zone to enable him to build duplexes. The plans call for seven single story duplexes and one single unit for a manager for a total of 15 units. The present zoning of R7500 would allow for up to 22 units of single family dwellings on this parcel of land. Duane distributed a paper which shows the floor plan and illustration of one duplex unit that the owner/developer is proposing. The plan shows a stairway to the basement but there will be no basement, due to ground conditions. Duane said there is city right-of-way to the site and it will be accessed from Ninth Street. Drainage will be discharged into an existing drain ditch which is opposite Eight Street. Water service will come from the existing 8" water main that is currently in Washington Avenue. Water will be brought to the site~ metered, and manifolded to provide a 6" fire line with a centrally located fire hydrant for the development. It will then branch off in smaller lines to serve each unit. Sanitary sewer will be provided by individual grinder pump units with one pump per duplex. It will utilize a force main that will discharge into the existing sanitary sewer line presently located a half block west of Washington Avenue. Duane said Jim Worthington indicated that the existing water and sewer mains in this area are adequate to serve this property. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 2 Council Meeting of June 15, 1993 In regard to solid waste pickup, they would formulate a plan that works best with the city's current method, using the large garbage cans, Ail improvements in and around this property are private and will be maintained by the ownership developer. This development will be submitted to the State Department of Health for review and approval, prior to construction. The development would most likely occur financially feasible for the developer at one time. in phases as it would not be to take on the entire project Ron Marshall asked if this is a condominium type situation and Duane said it is similar to that but the developer plans to rent the units. Joe Bradley stated that in order to sell these units individually~ you would have to go through all the procedures and paperwork to turn them into condominiums. Joe asked how many single family homes could be built on this land if the zoning stayed R75007 Duane stated this acreage would allow for 22 single family homes to be built. Joe questioned what the Board of Health is actually reviewing. Duane said that if it is treated as a condominium development~ they will review it under the condo declaration bylaws. Essentially, the units will be condos that are rented. In regard to a question about drainage, it was stated drains from north to south and the water is picked up the drain ditch in the southwest area. that the street and directed to Regarding garbage pickup, Duane said they are willing to work with the city. Jim Worthington said something can be worked out with them since they will have a caretaker and he can make arrangements to have the garbage out where the trucks can pick it up. Darrell McGillen was asked if he thought there was a problem as far as fire service in a cul-de-sac. Darrell said he personally does not like a cul-de-sac but his opinion on any type of development within the City of Laurel is that they can work around it. The city currently has cul-de-sacs and his department has to provide training to accommodate the situation. Duane said the cul-de-sac is a standard size for residential streets, the same as you would find anywhere else in town. In regard to a question, Duane said the straight run of street is only 30' wide. Off street parking is provided in their driveways. In regard to the parking situation, Ron Marshall questioned how emergency vehicles would respond if families had more than two vehicles or there were visitors coming and going that were parking in the street. Duane said the bylaws of the development would have language that would restrict parking on the street, length of time parked and it would address the blocking of driveways. There was discussion regarding what procedure would take place if the developer would decide, at a later date, to covert them from rentals to condominiums. Cal Cumin said this is private development and the city's responsibility stops on Washington Avenue. You don't have to worry about whether they have adequate parking and other such things. Lonnie Kellogg said the city has to provide emergency services so you need to be aware of what goes on. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 3 Council Meeting of June 15~ 1993 Cal said if there is an issue to deal with, they have to deal with it privately. If a tenant is violating the constitutional amendments~ they can be sued by the homeowners association and they would address the issues at that time. Joe said that with rentals, there are no bylaws. They will go through the Board of Health and apply condominium rules, but what they have is just a big apartment building and they are going to write leases. There will be no bylaws. The lease will state the specific terms and if the renter falls to obey them, the owner has the option of evicting them. More discussion followed and Cal Cumin advised not making a big problem out of this because the property is private and not the city's concern. It was stated that there will only be one access to the property. OPPONENTS: A1 Hodges stated that his primary concern in the whole thing is sewage. As he understands it~ each unit will have its own pressure pump that will go to a master pump which in turn will be pumped into the sewer at the conjunction of the alley on Ninth Street between Washington and Wyoming. A1 said about 80' of this sewer line was replaced and there are still cracks in the sewer pipe above this point. A1 was wondering why they can't take the sewer line and run it down Idaho. As far as he knows, there has never been any correspondence between McLelland's and the people building the units. Sooner or later the upper part will be developed and Idaho Avenue will run through to East Maryland Lane and they will put in sewer lines. A1 is asking if this can be done now instead of loading up the sewer that runs through the alley between Washington and Wyoming Avenues. It can't be any more expensive than putting in all these pumps and pressure systems. Jim Worthington stated that because of concerns expressed at the Planning Board hearing, Mr. Nussbaum came to him and asked if the city would approve extensions straight south to Idaho. Jim has checked this and the manhole is deep enough and the line is there~ so subject to an easement from the McLelland's, this could be done. The developer is looking at this as an alternate possibility. In regard to a question about the sewer line on Idaho, Jim said this is a deeper line, it is farther down on the system and it is a line they have had no problems with. Bob Robinson, 916 Washington, stated he is not totally opposed to the complex they want to build but he is opposed to where they want to run the sewer line. He said they have had enough problems in their area with line breakage on sewer and water. Bob said he was not at the Planning Board hearing so he does not know what was being considered regarding the park. He wants to see the park along Washington remain a city park and not be used for the complex. Bob stated again that he is not opposed feels there are a lot of things that need can be considered. to the development but he to be worked out before it In regard to the 22 building sites for residential homes, Bob said he has driven around the property and if you get that many in there, they have to be mighty small building sites. At this time, there are no roads on either end or an alley. Mark Nussbaum~ owner of the property~ stated that he is trying to get an easement from the people who own the land below his in order to run the sewer line to Idaho. In regard to the park, Mark said he plans to make his home in one of the apartments and he agrees with the residents that the park should remain as it is. Mr. Nussbaum questioned whether he could build a single family home on his property with no further ado if the zone chan~e does not ~o Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 4 Council Meeting of June 15, 1993 Joe Bradley asked if there were any written protest to the zone change and Don Hackmann, City Clerk, stated he has not received any. Cal Cumin stated there was a written protest submitted at the Planning Board which would require 3/4 of the council to override it. He thinks this is a valid protest and the reason he said that is because of the way the petition was written which states the proposal was to build seven two story duplexes. The duplexes are only one story so the petition is misleading but there are quite a few signatures on it. Joe Bradley said we will have to determine if it is valid between now and the next council meeting. Cal said the Planning Board recommended approval based on the fact that this is a difficult site. The people living there cannot expect this area to stay undeveloped forever. The best they can hope for is to have low density in the area. Cal said it is presently zoned R7500 because it was annexed into the city a while back. Under this zoning, if you take out 20% for streets and alleys, you still come up with area for 22 units that could be built under residential zoning. Under the R6000 zoning~ you could put in up to 28 units. So, from the standpoint of low density, this proposal is about as good as you can get. Cal said to override a valid protest, you need the vote of at least six council members. Joe Bradley informed the council that if they grant the zone change, the developer's plan is a nice one but there is nothing legally binding them to build that unit. They can change it any time they want. If you give them an R6000 zone they can build anything they want as long as it complies with the zone regulations. Joe advised the council to table any action on this and between now and the next meeting we will determine if this is a valid protest and how many votes are required to override it. We will look into what we can do to make sure that the proposed plan is what actually gets built. Motion by Alderman Collins to table any action until the next council meeting, seconded by Alderman Marshall. Motion carried 5--0. AWARD BID - DISPATCH CONSOLE & FURNITURE: Lonnie Kellogg stated the Park and Building Committee met but they did not make any recommendations regarding the dispatch console and furniture because of the financing issue. They turned it over to the Budget/Finance Committee. Mike stated the bid was for $47,000.00 and they could not fund this amount so they eliminated several things. Things eliminated were the dispatchers chair, the expansion for growth section which we will not be using now, and the two men working on this from Motorola cut their profit margin down. They came back with a price of $ 42,000.00 and Don Hackmann worked on it and found a way to finance it. Don Hackmann explained the financing plan has to be submitted to 9-1-1 for received verbal approval for this. to the council. Our financing approval but Don stated we have Motion Electronics $ 42,057.22, by Alderman Orr to accept the bid from Industrial for the dispatch console and furniture in the amount of seconded by Alderman Marshall. Motion carried 5--0. RESOLUTION NO. 2652 AUTHORIZING AGREEMENT WITH YELLOWSTONE BANK TO FINANCE THE PURCHASE OF A DISPATCH CONSOLE AND FURNITURE FROM THE NINE-ONE-ONE FUND AND GENERAL FUND Motion by Alderman Marshall that Resolution NO. 2652 be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Collins. Motion carried 5--0. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 5 Council Meeting of June 15, 1993 NO U-TURNS ON SOUTHEAST 4TH STREET & SOUTH WASHINGTON: ORDINANCE NO. 1079 (first readingl PROHIBITING U-TURNS ON CERTAIN CITY STREETS Motion by Alderman Marshall that Ordinance No. 1079 (first reading) be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Collins. A roll call vote was taken and all aldermen present voted, "YES". Motion carried 6--0. APPROVAL FOR 1993-94 CITY BUSINESS LICENSES: Motion by Alderman Marshall to approve the 1993-94 city business licenses as presented, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 5--0. Joe Bradley reported that the bus depot dropped their appeal so the conviction stands in Laurel City Court. Although Joe has not seen any copies of their documents from district court, he has heard that this is what they are doing. As he recalls, the conviction sentence was a $ 100.00 fine with $ 50.00 suspended on the condition that they buy a city business license. COMMITTEE MINUTES: --Board of Adjustments minutes of June 8, 1993 were presented and reviewed. Cal Cumin explained that the variance for Bernard Bray, 1018 llth Avenue, was denied. Mr Bray could have what he needed by making some adjustments on his part but he did not want to do this and Cal said there was no reason to grant the variance just because he wanted it. Motion by Alderman Collins to enter the Board of Adjustments minutes of June 8, 1993, into the record, seconded by Alderman Kellogg. Motion carried 5--0. --Budget/Finance Committee minutes of June 1, 1993 were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick Committee minutes of June l, 1993, Alderman Collins. Motion carried 5--0. to enter the Budget/Finance into the record, seconded by ~-Budget/Finance Committee minutes of June 9, 1993 were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick Committee minutes of June 9, 1993, Alderman Collins. Motion carried 5--0. to enter the Budget/Finance into the record, seconded by --City Council Committee of the Whole minutes of June 1, 1993 were presented. Motion by Alderman Marshall to enter the City Council Committee of the Whole minutes of June 1, 1993, into the record, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 5--0. --Parks Committee minutes of June 10, 1993 were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to enter the Parks minutes of June 10, 1993, into the record, seconded by Kellogg. Motion carried 5--0. Committee Alderman --Public Utilities Committee minutes of June 14, 1993 were presented and reviewed. At the committee meeting, Ted Bundy requested an adjustment on his sewer average so it would reflect last year's average because of a leak. After checking his previous year's average, it was found to be exactly the same as his current one so no adjustment was made. The committee recommended an adjustment on the sewer average for Dennis Frare, due to a broken line on his hot water heater. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 6 Council Meeting of June 15, 1993 Motion by Alderman Collins to adjust Dennis Frare's sewer average according to his consumption from last year~ seconded by Alderman Marshall. Motion carried 5--0. Joseph Goss, 302 5th Avenue, requested an adjustment on his sewer average. He and his wife moved into a house and the average that goes with the house was for a larger sized family. The committee recommended sending this issue to the council for a decision. Joseph spoke to the council and explained his circumstances, He said he has lived in Laurel all his life with the exception of about ten months. They are a young family and they want what is right, a fair decision. Joseph said it is not the $ 40.00 he would be saving over the next six months that is the issue. He feels the city should make the adjustments for the people buying the homes because they are the landowners and the people who are supporting the community. Discussion followed regarding the fairness of it and Joe said the council does not know of any way to fine tune this any closer than the six months. There are so many variables involved that you cannot come up with one method that is fair to every party involved. Motion by Alderman Marshall to make no adjustment on the sewer average for Joseph Goss~ seconded by Alderman Collins. Motion carried 5--0. Discussion regarding the house that Connie Wilson lives in at 715 West 2nd Street. She had the water service turned off at the curb box some time ago because of leaks and she is hauling water to live on. The water office questioned what she should be billed for. Joe Bradley will check into this matter. BFI is building a wash rack to wash garbage trucks and containers and they wanted permission to dump the water at our plant. The committee unanimously voted not to allow this. large Motion by Alderman Collins to enter the Public Utilities Committee minutes of June 14, 1993, into the record, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 5--0. --Laurel Community Development Grant Committee minutes of May 27, 1993 were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Collins to enter the Laurel Community Development Grant Committee minutes of May 27, 1993~ into the record, seconded by Alderman Kellogg. Motion carried 5--0. COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE: STREET DANCE, PANCAKE BREAKFAST & FIREWORKS DISPLAY Pat Krug, representing the Jaycees, asked permission for the street dance and the pancake breakfast. There was discussion regarding what night the dance will be held. Mike Atkinson stated that it has always been on Saturday night and that is the way the schedule for the officers has been set up. He stated that it can be held on Friday but he would have to call in more men and pay them overtime to do it. Ron Marshall stated that the budget is just too tight to pay out extra in overtime so it was decided to have it on Saturday. The Jaycees received permission from Jan Stingley to use the parking lot at 5th Avenue and Main Street for the dance. The dance will be held on Saturday, July 3rd from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. The pancake breakfast will be held on July 4th at Firemen's Park. There was discussion regarding security for the dance. Motion by Alderman Marshall to allow the Jaycees to hold the street dance on July 3rd from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. and the pancake breakfast on July 4th, seconded by Alderman Collins. Motion carried 5--0. Darrell McGillen, representing the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department, requested permission to hold an aerial fireworks display within the city limits of Laurel on July 4th at 10:00 p.m. at the football field. Motion by Alderman Orr to allow the Laurel Volunteer Fire Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 7 Council Meeting of June 15, i993 HOME OCCUPATION: Roberta Montgomery~ 20 4th Avenue, would like a home occupation for a mail order business in her home. She would contact merchants by phone~ take their order and phone it in. The merchandise is mailed directly to the merchants. Joe Bradley stated this is in the business district but she is operating out of her home so she would need a home occupation. The Planning Board recommended approval. Motion by Alderman Kellogg to grant a home occupation to Roberta Montgomery, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 5--0. APPOINTMENTS: The Mayor reappointed Susan Carter to the Library Board for a five year term. Motion by Alderman Orr to confirm the Mayor's appointment of Susan Carter to the Library Board for a five year term. Motion carried 5--0. The Mayor reappointed L.D. Collins to the Air Pollution Control Board for a two year term. Motion by Alderman KellogK to confirm the Mayor's appointment of L.D. Collins to the Air Pollution Control Board, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 5--0. PETITION TO VACATE Jim Worthington stated he has a petition from the property owners adjacent to 5th Avenue, north of 14th Street on the property that the city recently annexed in Mathis Subdivision, This section of 5th Avenue is unimproved and goes north~ where it dead ends into the ditch. The property owners are proceeding with the construction of the water and sewer lines to serve this property. Jim said he sees no problem with this since 5th Avenue will never be extended. More discussion and Joe said this is valuable city property. Other city's do not just give it away, they generally calculate a dollar value for it and the adjacent owners buy the property. If this is done, the city would write a provision to retain the easement for the utility line that runs where the street would be. It was stated that a resolution of intent to vacate will be drawn up for the next meeting and the council will vote on it. Jim Worthington thanked the council and said he has enjoyed working with them. His last day of work will be June 30th. Chuck Rodgers commended Jim on the fine job and said we will be sorry to see him leave. work with Jim and Chuck feels the city has Jim was here. he has done for the city It has been a pleasure to accomplished a lot while There being no further business to come before the Coucnil at time, the meeting was adjourned at '~ p~ Donald L. Hackmann, City Clerk this Approved by the Mayor and passed by the City Laurel, Montana, this 6th day of July, 1993. ATTEST: Council of the City of