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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-12-17 Minutes• 455 A MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on Tuesday, December 17, 1996, at 6:30 p.m., in the Council Room of the City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain, Fayetteville, Arkansas. PRESENT: Mayor Fred Hanna; Aldermen Heather Daniel, Stephen Miller, Kit Williams, Cyrus Young, Woody Bassett, Trent Trumbo, Jimmy Hill, Len Schaper; City Attorney Jerry Rose; City Clerk/Treasurer Traci Paul; staff; press; and audience. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Hanna called the meeting to order with eight aldermen present. NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT Alderman Daniel stated there was one position for the Airport Board: Frank Burggraf, a reappointment; Parks & Recreation: Brenda Thiel, Bruce King, Aaron Bleidt, Rodney Staggs; Square Gardens Committee: Helen Lewis, a reappointment; Tree & Landscape Advisory Committee: Claudia Rutherford, Brian Ray, Stuart Thompson. Alderman Daniel moved that the Council accept these nominations. Alderman Williams seconded. Upon roll call, the motion passed on a vote of 8 to 0. Mayor Hanna had two appointments Fayetteville's representatives nominated Stan Green, presently replace Chancellor Ferritor, who for the Regional Airport Board. are up for replacement. He the chairman, and Don Nelms to did not seek reappointment. Alderman Miller moved to accept the nominations. Alderman Hill seconded. Upon roll call, the motion passed on a vote of 7 to 1, with Alderman Young voting no. OLD BUSINESS TREE ORDINANCE AMENDMENT Mayor Hanna introduced an ordinance amending chapter 162: Tree Protection and Preservation, to prohibit land disturbance operations before the approval of a tree preservation plan for certain properties. He stated one ordinance presented earlier had been tabled while Alderman Schaper was out of town. The second ordinance was presented by the Tree & Landscape Committee. There was a choice to be made. 1 456 December 17, 1996 Alderman Schaper thanked the Council for tabling this until he could be present. Stating many heads are better than one, he noted the Tree & Landscape Advisory •Committee and. the Landscape Administrator came up with something simpler than his Which will have the same effect. He was happy to Withdrawhis original ordinance and substitute the ordinance worked over by the Tree & Landscape Advisory Committee. City Attorney Rose stated this could be done simply by leaving the One on the table and proceeding with the first reading of the Tree & Landscape Advisory Committee's proposed ordinance. He read the ordinance for the first time. Alderman Williams stated it is his understanding that before someone would clear his land, assuming it was residential and unplatted or commercial but not agricultural, they would need not to remove more than the amount that would leave the minimum basic tree canopy. If they have questions, the City has an officer who can explain the ordinance. Alderman Schaper stated this does not affect agricultural land or an individual residential lot. It affects any land not platted as a residential subdivision or any land subject to large scale development or commercial development. Alderman Williams moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Alderman Hill seconded. - Upon roll call, the motion passed on a vote of 8 to 0. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the second time. Alderman Miller moved to go to the third reading. Alderman Young seconded. Upon roll call the motion passed on a vote of 8 t 0.. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the third time. Mayor Hanna asked for comments from the audience. Michael Andrews, local business owner and resident of Fayetteville, voiced his support of this amendment, though it is too late for some parcels of land. He stated this City can domore and distributed a copy of the tree ordinance for the City of Monterey, California. Mayor Hanna called for the vote. Upon roll call, the ordinance passed on a vote of 8 to 0. ORDINANCE 4008 APPEARS ON PAGE OF ORDINANCE BOOK 2 1 1 457 December 17, 1996 CONSENT AGENDA Mayor Hanna introduced items which may be approved by motion or contracts and leases which can be approved by resolution and which may be grouped together and approved simultaneously under a consent agenda: A. Minutes of the December 3 regular City Council Meeting; B. A resolution approving the extension of the contract with Community Access Television for the operation of the public access channel through December 31, 1997; RESOLUTION 127-96 AS RECORDED IN THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE. C. A resolution authorizing a budget adjustment in the amount of $25,550 to provide for matching funding for the purchase of a new trolley; RESOLUTION 128-96 AS RECORDED IN THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE. Regarding page two of the minutes, Alderman Miller stated he had said there are millions of "illegal" guns, not "legal" guns. With that change, Alderman Miller moved to approve the consent agenda. Alderman Williams seconded. Upon roll call, the motion passed on a vote of 8 to 0. NEW BUSINESS BUILDING RENOVATION Mayor Hanna introduced a resolution approving a budget adjustment and approving a contract with Wittenburg, Delony & Davidson, Inc., for renovation of the Courthouse Annex Building located at Ten South College Avenue. Mayor Hanna explained this is the renovation for the Fayetteville Free Clinic. We are doing the inside renovation with some community development block grant funds. The County owns the building and leases it for a nominal amount to the Clinic. Alderman Young moved the resolution. Alderman Miller seconded. Upon roll call, the resolution passed on a vote of 8 to 0. RESOLUTION 129-96 AS RECORDED IN THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE. 3 December 17, 1996 BID WAIVER Mayor Hanna introduced an ordinance approving a bid waiver and spot pricing for the marketing of recyclable commodities. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the first time. Alderman Miller moved to suspend the rules and go to the second reading. Alderman Daniel seconded. Upon roll call, the motion passed on a. -vote of 8 to 0. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the second time. F Alderman Miller moved the ordinance to the third reading. Alderman Daniel seconded. Upon roll call, the motion passed on a vote of 8 to 0. Mayor Hanna asked for further comments. There being none, he called for the vote. Upon roll call, the ordinance passed on a vote of 8 to 0. ORDINANCE 4009 IS FOUND ON PAGE OF ORDINANCE BOOK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SERVICES Mayor Hanna introduced an ordinance waiving the requirements of competitive bidding for economic development services and approving an agreement with the Chamber of Commerce for such services. Ih Ila City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the first time. Alderman Williams asked if the contract had been changed to reflect including two members of the City Council. Rose. responded he has added an increase in the membership of the Economic Development Council to ten members. One of the members sha11°-be the Mayor of the City Of Fayetteville; one shall be the Administrative Services ,Director of the City of Fayetteville; one shall be the Public Works Director of the City of Fayetteville; two members shall be aldermen of the City of Fayetteville appointed by the Mayor; one member shall be the Chief Executive Officer/President of the Chamber; one member -shall? be the Chairperson of the Fayetteville Industrial Development Committee; one member shall be the Chairperson of the Board of the Chamber; and two of the members shall be members of, and appointed by, the Chamber of Commerce. Mayor Hanna asked for comments from the audience. There were none. 4 1 1 1 II k iilIij 1 !ill.. I.. it 11111E11 459 December 17, 1996 Alderman Williams moved to go to the second reading. Alderman Miller seconded. Upon roll call, the motion passed on a vote of 8 to 0. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the second time. Alderman Schaper was a little concerned about waiving the requirements of competitive bidding. There really isn't anyone else around able to do this kind of work, so that is a reason to waive the competitive bidding process; but he was hesitant about it. Next time, about six months before expiration, we should invite proposals just to see if there is some other organization interested in this kind of work. He hoped they could be encouraged to do more in commercial development. Alderman Schaper moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Alderman Williams seconded. Upon roll call, the motion passed on a vote of 8 to 0. City Attorney Rose read the ordinance for the third time. Mayor Hanna asked for further comments. There were none. He called for the vote. Upon roll call, the ordinance passed on a vote of 8 to 0. ORDINANCE 4010 IS FOUND ON PAGE OF ORDINANCE BOOR DAVID LYLE SUBDIVISION BILL OF ASSURANCE Mayor Hanna introduced a discussion and possible amendment of the Bill of Assurance for David Lyle Subdivision. Mayor Hanna stated the Planning Commission approved this but they wanted to send it back for the Council's final approval since the Council was originally involved in the issue. City Attorney Rose stated if the Council wishes to agree with the Planning Commission, a motion would be in order to confirm their decision of final plat approval regarding this project. Alderman Young asked if it needed to be a resolution. Rose stated it would be a simple motion. Alderman Daniel made a motion to accept the Planning Commission's approval of the Bill of Assurance. Alderman Schaper seconded the motion. Alderman Williams asked the City Attorney for clarification. Rose stated there is a motion on the floor which would approve the Planning Commission's decision to award final plat approval to the David Lyle Subdivision. 5 • api December 17, 1996 Alderman Williams stated the only real issue here is that in the. Bill of Assurance as it was finally given, there wassomething about the square footage of the homes. He explained -he did -not remember the issue having anything to do with the size of the homes. Mayor Hanna stated this was something that Mr. Bayyari gave of his own free will when he wrote the covenants and Bill of Assurance for his subdivision. When changes were made in the sizes ofsome of the lots because of what he donated to the City, he asked that the sizes of the houses be lowered. The change needs to be recognized and documented by the City. Alderman Schaper stated he talked with Mr. Bayyari about the issue and recommended that he talk with Alett Little to see if it could be handled administratively. Since we approved it in one form, the Planning Commission justifiably wanted the Council to approve the change. Upon roll call, the motion passed on a vote of 8 to 0. REZONING RZ96-18 _Mayor Hanna introduced an ordinance rezoning 6.17 acres located at the northeast corner of Cato Springs Rd. and Treat St. from R-2, Medium Density Residential, to C-2, Thoroughfare Commercial, as requested by Ronald Woodruff on behalf of Joyce Ogden. City Attorney Rose read the ordinancefor the first time. Alderman Miller noted that Mr. Woodruff had stated they would abide by the Overlay District, which greatly encourages the preservation of indigenous trees. Ron Woodruff, attorney, stated that at this time; no plan has been developed. He could not give assurance that some of those trees won't come down. Alderman Schaper stated this is are no development plans, no whoever buys it would be bound purely speculative rezoning. There buyer, no customer. He asked if to follow the' Bill of Assurance. Mr. Woodruff responded that as it was drafted, it was intended to follow the land. He had a drawing that showed about four-fifths of the land is in the Overlay District. Alderman Schaper had a problem with it being just speculation. We already have a 15 -year supply of commercial land already zoned. The land being discussed is accessible and zoned R-2 now. We need affordable housing which is not practically out to the city limits. What we see here is incipient commercial strip zoning. Residential is..a viable use of land in this part of town. He urged everyone to keep this zoned R-2. - I��O I��Vuo6l�Bai 1[I �� I MUM IWii f ilk :I I;Y� 6 1 1 1 1 461 December 17, 1996 Alderman Bassett would support the rezoning for several reasons. The 2020 Plan has designated this area as regional commercial. We have had the foresight to put in protection for developments of this nature, for example the Overlay District and the Commercial Design Standards. Alderman Miller would hate to see Razorback Road become another 71/College Drive North or another Sixth Street. This does give the area some depth. He had a feeling that some commercial land would be rezoned back to residential. Most of the commercial land is clustered in a couple sections of town. There is not a lot of C-2 in this part of town. Alderman Williams stated this is one of the few places that could be commercial there. Basically, the owner of the land is following the 2020 Plan and has the right to use the land within our own plan and have it rezoned commercial, because that is what we recommended. Alderman Young stated rezoning property for specific development is illegal. The question is how to judge. One of the main considerations is the appropriate use for it. That is where the land use plan comes in. Alderman Trumbo asked Alett Little, Planning Director, for her opinion on this issue. Little responded the land use plan is the first document staff goes to for a rezoning. In this case, at this intersection, the area for commercial development is the area to the northeast. This does fit that profile. The second question asked is if it is in the public interest. We made a positive determination, and the Planning Commission felt it needed to be tempered when the first ten acres came forward. They denied that. Their judgement is that six acres subject to Commercial Design Standards and Overlay District is an appropriate land use in that area. Mr. Woodruff responded to the remarks concerning strip zoning. Across the road is a steep hill. The owner of that property has told him no further development can be done on that property for physical reasons. There is a cemetery across the street, so there will be no commercial there. The public should be aware that this property abuts City property where they have an operations center, so the City will have something to say about how their property is developed. We are locked in here. He could not see how strip development could occur. Also, there will be an increase in traffic. It is a natural for commercial use, particularly for the traveling public. This was left on its first reading. 7 December 17, 1996 DRAINAGE STUDY Mayor Hanna introduced a report on the drainage study for the area located in the vicinity of Manor, Ridgely, Londonderry, Meandering Way, and Crossover. Mel Milholland, engineer, handed out a copies of the bound report. He covered the scope of what they were asked to do and presented exhibits to walk through each step of the study. They were asked to look at what impact drainage has on the north side of Boardwalk, which is Meandering Way and Londonderry. On the south side it would be Manor Drive and the southern end of the unimproved part of Ridgely Drive. The east boundary would be 265, or Crossover Road; and the west side would be on the eastern slope of Mt. Sequoyah. At this time, Mr. Milholland made a visual presentation of the steps of the study. Jim Beavers, City Engineer, stated Mr. Milholland's report reiterated the fact that some of these problem areas are separate and independent of anything that could happen in Marvin Gardens. At least two areas have existing problems. The ordinance does allow a cost share where, if it was deemedto be best, the developer could contribute to the City the money he would have spent on detention ponds and that could be used for a.project to improve downstream structures and pipes. We have not looked at that in any detail and could not tell how much that would help. Regarding existing problems, he pointed out this is a fairly new. su:-Cit3:ion.and he would suggest that the City look at the previous de:c_`.:,per to help with that. Kevin Crosson, Public Works Director, stated the staff had just received this report and has not verified any of the findings. The Council needs to review the report before going any further. These documents will be available to the public. OTHER BUSINESS RETIRING ALDERMEN Mayor Hanna expressed gratitude for the work done by Aldermen Bassett and Hill. Alderman Hill stated he was honored to serve out the term of Bob Prichard. He thanked the Council for selecting him to fill the vacancy and thanked the Mayor and City employees, with whom he enjoyed working. He also thanked all who volunteered to work on committees. He thanked friends, employees, and family. Alderman Bassett stated that from the first day, he considered it a privilege and honor to serve on the Council. He has enjoyed it and has met and gained respect for a lot of people. It is an important job that requires a lot of time; but it has been a labor of love. He thanked his family; law partners; his secretaries; the uauiu�eiuIu;i 8 1 1 11 ... 463 December 17, 1996 City employees and staff; the boards, commissions, and committees; and the press. He expressed his appreciation of Mayor Hanna and the job he has done and for his fellow aldermen. He leaves happy and satisfied with the progress they have made. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:21 p.m.