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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 09.23.2003 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP SEPTEMBER 23, 2003 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS A Council Workshop was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by Mayor Bud Johnson at 6:30 p.m. on September 23, 2003. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Lauren Van Roekel x Doug Poehls _x_ Ken Olson x Mark Mace Gay Easton x Daniel Dart x Dan Mears x John Oakes OTHERS PRESENT: Steve Klotz - Public Works Director Jim Darling - Fisheries Manager, FWP Rod Nelson - MDT, District Project Engineer Gary Neville - MDT, District Engineering Services Supervisor Brace Barrett - MDT, District supervisor, Billings Kirk Spalding - Engineering, Inc., Billings Mark Studt - MDT, Consultant Project Engineer, Helena Dave Leitheiser - MDT, Hydraulic Section, Helena Ken A. Platt - MDT, Utility Section, Helena Phyllis and Roger Bromgard Public Input · None Montana Department of Transportation - 8th Avenue Project · Mayor introduced Brace Barrett. o Brace Barrett introduced the individuals that accompanied him to the meeting. · Bruce explained the following issues associated with the 8th Avenue Project: o The current status of the project with some general information o The current status of funding that is available for the project o The water and sanitary sewer issues · Capacity of the existing system · The city's desire to increase the capacity for future development · Interested in the life of the existing system because they are designing for a 20-year life and would want any utilities under the road to have the same 20-year life. · How the MDT pays for utility relocations · What it means when they are in conflict · Issues with State Law's Administrative Rules and general MDT policy. · Interest in some stub outs for future development Council Workshop Minutes of September 23, 2003 · Issue of service lines going into all the residences o Storm drain system · The biggest issue is the outfall and several issues relating to the outfall. · One issue is that the present storm drain system runs into the Italian Ditch. o MDT is having a hard time deciding who has ownership, who has the right to be there, and whether or not they have the right to replace the existing system where it is. · The other issue is that, because of the way we are designing developing the road, additional water is being added to this system that they feel the current system cannot handle. · An overflow system is needed. · They have developed a general plan for the overflow to go to the Laurel Pond. · There are capacity issues with their design for the roadway versus the city's vision for future development. · The right to use the present conveyance and the Laurel Pond are big issues. · An alternative would be to direct the overflow into South Pond. · Bruce stated that the desired outcome is to get the issues on the table, try to answer questions, hear the city's concerns, and follow up with any necessary research. o The storm drain, the outfall, and the ownership issues must be addressed. o The lighting in this project will require the city to create a lighting district to manage the lights once they construct them with the project. · Kirk presented a general overview of the project. o The project started out on 8th Avenue from Main Street to 7th Street. o Decision made to add }{th Avenue from 7th to 9th Streets to improve sidewalks and add lighting, primarily on the east side. · Preliminary plans on the project are complete. o Under separate contract with the City for water and sewer design on 8th Avenue. o Includes upgrading the service lines going to adjacent properties within the existing right of way. o Includes upgrading the size of the existing water and sewer lines to twelve-inch pipes. · The stretch from Main to 7th Street will be upgraded with new sidewalk, new boulevard, new asphalt surfacing, lighting, and an upgraded storm drain system. · Designing the facility for a five-year storm event o The existing storm drain facility is undersized for a five-year storm event. o Will add capacity, probably 30 cubic feet per second (cfs), to the storm drain system, actually increasing the flow by about a third of current capacity. o They would actually aggravate existing conditions by improving the system by adding 30 additional cfs to the Laurel Ditch, which has an historical flooding problem anyway. o The 30 cfs need to go somewhere else and not be introduced into the system. o If the issues can be addressed, construction would probably occur in early 2005. · Mark Studt explained the available urban funds. 2 Council Workshop Minutes of September 23, 2003 o The city's current balance is $1.4 million for urban funds, and the city's fiscal year ends on October 1, 2003. o City will also receive the next annual allocation of $154,000. o City could borrow up to five years of allocation in advance. o Approximately $770,000 would be available, in addition to the $1.4 million, for a total of about $2.1 million total potential available funds. · Bruce explained the water and sanitary sewer issues. o Issues relating to capacity. o Issues relating to lines in conflict. · MDT only replaces lines with which they are in conflict. · Bruce was surprised that more lines were not found to be in conflict on this project. · A utility line that is determined to be in conflict is one that lies or interferes with the roadway section as it is being constructed. · If the City wants to upgrade the capacity of the water and the sanitary sewer, those would be the city's costs. · Issue over how much life is left in the existing system. o MDT is designing the road for a 20-year design life and want lines under the road to have the same 20-year design life. o Bruce was unsure if the project would be cancelled or put on hold if it cannot be demonstrated that the life of the current systems have a 20-year life. o MDT will not construct a new road with a 20-year design life over utilities that have a shorter design life than that. · MDT does not participate in stub outs for future developments. · MDT pays 100 percent of the cost of replacing up to two-inch service lines from the main line to the right of way. · MDT would charge the city 8% for mobilization of equipment and 8% for traffic control to be applied to the city's share of any water or sewer line work. o Engineering, Inc. has already included these costs in the estimate. · Jim Darling, FWP, suggested some issues relating to directing the overflow to South Pond. o Stock agreement with the City of Laurel started in 1968, but they are not protecting a species of special concern. o Concern regarding health risks to people o Concern regarding the quality of the water o Concem regarding having heavy metals and petroleum products in the pond o Concem regarding filtering of the water o Concern regarding monitoring o Concern whether the pond outflow could handle it o Point source entry · There was a lengthy discussion regarding all issues. · Another meeting will be scheduled to address the issues. o A list of items will be developed in order to further educate the council on the project. o The list will be given to Bruce Barrett, and another meeting will be scheduled to discuss the items. 3 Council Workshop Minutes of September 23, 2003 Emergency Services Committee discussion * Dan Dart stated that the committee has not had a quorum at their meetings since April. o Need to ask members about their commitment. o Diminished enthusiasm from the public since department heads do not attend the meetings o Need input from thc department heads becansc thc essence of this committee is to represent concerns and bring forward challenges o Revitalization is needed so that it is a viable committee · Bud explained thc issue regarding department heads. o Department heads questioned whether to take issues to the council workshop, committee meetings, or department head meetings. o Administrative type versus po]icy type things ~ Example of the cat issue ordinance o Example of the keg ordinance · Rick attended those meetings to address thc issues. · Discussion regarding Emergency Services and Public Works Committees · Dan Dart suggested that the committee would best serve issues requiring a process to collect information and public input. o Dart would call individual committee members to explain that issues requiring a process will be referred to and considered by the committee. · Mayor restated that the idea regarding the Emergency Services and Public Works Committees is to refer matters to the committees that would require public and staff input before the council considers the items. · Discussion regarding whether the idea would fit the Public Works Committee because it deals with more issues of substance. · Emergency Services Committee will meet as needed to consider matters in order to obtain public and staff input. Other · Mayor Johnson has tickets to a Meth-Free Montana Community Leaders Breakfast from 7:00 to 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday moming. · Mayor will appoint Dan Mears to the Budget/Finance Committee at the next council meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:42 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cindy Allen Council Secretary NOTE: This meeting is open to the public. This meeting is for information and discussion of the Council.