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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-08-21 - Agendas - Final FAYETTEV&LE THE CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS FINAL AGENDA CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 21, 2001 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council will be held on August 21 , 2001 at 6 :30 p.m. in Room 219 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. A. CONSENT AGENDA 1 . APPROVAL OF MINUTES : Approval of the minutes from the July 31 and August 7, 2001 meetings. 2. STEPHENS INC. : A resolution authorizing additional continuing services from Stephens Inc. to provide continuing financial advisory services on the Wastewater System Improvements project financing. The rate per hour is $225 .00 and is restricted to certain identified individuals. The authorization requested is not to exceed $ 15,000 and will be paid from the project budget. 3. BLACK & VEATCH: A resolution authorizing additional continuing services from Black & Veatch to provide continuing system rate analysis services for the City in conjunction with the Wastewater System Improvements Project. The authorization requested is not to exceed $20,000.00 and will be paid from the project budget. 4. GRANT AGREEMENT: A resolution approving a sub-recipient grant agreement to the Project for Victims of Family Violence. 5. SFCDC: A resolution approving a sub-recipient grant agreement with the South Fayetteville Community Development Corporation. B. OLD BUSINESS 1 , SHEWMAKER: A resolution approving a budget adjustment in the amount of $76,436.00 to pay for the City Council's counteroffer made at the Special City Council meeting on July 31 , 2001 to settle the Shewmaker case which has been accepted. 113 WEST MOUNTAIN 72701 501521-7700 FAX 501575-8257 2. ANX O1-2.00: An ordinance approving annexation request ANX 01 -2.00 for property located east of Sunshine Road and South of Mount Comfort. The property is in the planning area and contains approximately 14.47 acres. The request is to annex the subject property into the City of Fayetteville. The ordinance was left on the first reading at the August 7, 2001 City Council meeting. 3. RZN O1 -11 .00: An ordinance approving rezoning request RZN 01 - 11 .00 submitted by Phillip Humbard of Engineering Services on behalf of Cross Creek Subdivision for property located east of Sunshine Road and South of Mount Comfort Road. The property is zoned A- 1 , Agricultural, and contains approximately 14.47 acres. The request is to rezone to R- 1 , Low Density Residential. The ordinance was left on the first reading at the August 7, 2001 City Council meeting. C. NEW BUSINESS 1 . BOYS & GIRLS CLUB: A resolution approving an agreement with Fayetteville Youth Center Inc. d/b/a Fayetteville Boys & Girls, Inc. of Washington County. 2. RZN O1-13.00 An ordinance approving rezoning request RZN 01 - 13 .00 submitted by Kirk Elsass on behalf of HCL Properties for property located south of Zion Road in HARB-CO Subdivision. The property is zoned R-O, Residential Office and contains approximately 1 .4 acres. The request is to rezone to C- 1 , Neighborhood Commercial. 914 A? Meeting of 3;3= FOL L JORDAN REYNOLDS THIEL ✓ YOUNG J ZURCHER / TRUMBO DAVIS SANTOS COODY 0 V JORDAN ✓ REYNOLDS ✓ THIEL YOUNG ZURCHER ✓ TRUMBO ✓ DAVIS f✓ COODY ,7/,7 //0 / Meeting of Aprii3 JORDAN REYNOLDS THIEL YOUNG ZURCHER TRUMBO DAVIS COODY JORDAN REYNOLDS THIEL YOUNG yr ZURCHER ✓ TRUMBO DAVIS L� SAN� G GOODY Fl2 //o I Meeting of PcpR -a,, 20@t' pop JOR15AN v REYNOLDS THIEL YOUNG ZURCHER TRUMBO ✓ �/ �� DAVIS COODY JO AN REYNOLDS � THIEL t� YOUNG ✓ ZURCHER � TRUMBO !/ DAVIS c w� rrz 9 COODY 7 —O Meeting of,e ^w ' :— JORDAN L REYNOLDS THIEL J J YOUNG ZURCHER TRUMBO ✓ y DAVIS ✓ �/ COODY 7—o . JORDAN REYNOLDS THIEL YOUNG ZURCHER TRUMBO DAVIS §�65� COODY i FAYET TEV rT TLE THE CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS FINAL AGENDA CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 21, 2001 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council will be held on August 21 , 2001 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 219 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. ,, A. CONSENT AGENDA \' 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES : Approval of the minutes from the July 31 and August 7, 2001 meetings. O 2, INC.: A resolution authorizing additional continuing services from Stephens Inc. to provide continuing financial advisory services on the Wastewater System Improvements project financing. The rate per hour is $225.00 and is restricted to certain identified individuals. The authorization requested is not to exceed $ 15,000 and will be paid from the project budget. : A resolution authorizing additional continuing services from Black & Veatch to provide continuing system rate analysis services for the City in conjunction with the Wastewater System Improvements Project. The authorization requested is not to exceed $20,000.00 and will be paid from the project budget. : A resolution approving a sub-recipient grant agreement to the Project for Victims of Family Violence. _ 0 5 : A resolution approving a sub-recipient grant agreement with the South Fayetteville Community Development Corporation. B. OLD BUSINESS WMAKEE : A resolution approving a budget adjustment in the amount of $76,436.00 to pay for the City Council's counteroffer made at the Special City Council meeting on July 31 , 2001 to settle the Shewmaker case which has been accepted. 113 WEST MOUNTAIN 72701 501521-7700 FAX 501575-8257 r 2. J� ANX 0 -2.00: An ordinance approving annexation request ANX O1 -2.00 for property 3 located east of Sunshine Road and South of Mount Comfort. The property is in the planning area and contains approximately 14.47 acres. The request is to annex the subject property into the City of Fayetteville. The ordinance was left on the first eading at the August 7, 2001 City Council meeting. 3. RZN - : An ordinance approving rezoning request RZN O1-11 .00 submitted by Phillip Humbard of Engineering Services on behalf of Cross Creek Subdivision for property located east of Sunshine Road and South of Mount Comfort Road. The property is zoned A-1 , Agricultural, and contains approximately 14.47 acres. The request is to rezone to R-1 , Low Density Residential. The ordinance was left on the first reading at the August 7, 2001 City Council meeting. C. NEW BUSINESS 1. B A resolution approving an agreement with Fayetteville /9 Youth Center Inc. d/b/a Fayetteville Boys & Girls, Inc. of Washington County. 2. N - 00 An ordinance approving rezoning request RZN 01 -13.00 submitted by Kirk Elsass on behalf of HCL Properties for property located south of Zion Road 3 in HARB-CO Subdivision. The property is zoned R-O, Residential Office and contains approximately 1 .4 acres. The request is to rezone to C-1 , Neighborhood Commercial. J �. �z� MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE FAYETTEVILLE CITY COUNCIL JULY 319 2001 A special meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on July 31 , 2001 at 5 :30 p.m. in Room 326 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. PRESENT: Mayor Coody, Aldermen Davis, Santos, Jordan, Reynolds, Thiel, Zurcher, and Trumbo, City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Heather Woodruff, Staff, Press and Audience. AIRPORT Review and approval of items related to the City of Fayetteville operations as Fixed Base Operator (FBO) at Drake Field. Mayor Coody stated they had a contract with Fayetteville Air Service for a long time. By mutual agreement they have found ourselves to be in the position to sell fuel and run the FBO. They were expecting their contract to last until the end of August. However, last week they found out the company would be leaving July 31 , 2001 . Mr. Gary Dumas stated they were anticipating bring this forward next month, however, because the time frame has been moved up they were having to call this special meeting. There were several items they needed to take care of today so that they could move forward. They had secured coverage through their insurance broker. They had secured fueling equipment and fuel. They had ninety day contract with Philips 66, they were the only ones that could provide fuel and equipment with only six days notice. They had to find a couple of extra people to provide approximately sixty more hours at the Airport because the FBO operation will have more extended hours than the normal forty hour work week that they currently have at the airport. The FBO will be open from 6 :00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on weekdays and 6:00 a.m. to 6 :00 p.m. in weekends. There were two former employees from the FBO who were contacted and who were interested in coming to work for us. Finally, they needed to secure the appropriate action from the council to make all this happen. They anticipated their revenues will cover all their expenses and as they increased their fuel sales they would be able to increase their revenues down there. Alderman Davis asked if they were signing a lease with Philips. Mr. Dumas stated it was a ninety day lease. They had a request for bids going out. They anticipated that to be on the August 21 agenda, but it would not take affect until this ninety day contract was up in October. Alderman Davis asked what other services were they going to provide at the FBO beside the fuel. Mr. Dumas stated initially any thing they would need for the airplane. They would try to provide City Council Minutes July 31 , 2001 Page 2 some rental car services thru a rental car agency. The idea was to move the FBO into the terminal building. Alderman Davis asked if there would be any type of maintenance. Mr. Dumas stated they had no ability to provide maintenance. Hopefully if they increase their activity at the airport they could get a business to provide those type of services. Alderman Reynolds stated at one time they approved another operator at the airport. Mayor Coody stated Fayetteville did have the second highest fuel prices in the State. Tomorrow they would be the lowest. They should be able to draw quiet a bit of business to Drake Field. They planned to break even. Mr. Doug Wallace, Airport Board, stated the Airport Board would be looking at this tomorrow. For quiet some time there had been some unhappiness regarding the services at the Airport. These will be brought to an end. This will jump start activity at the airport to suddenly have the most competitive price in Northwest Arkansas. The ninety day period would give them the time to sort out thing and to develop a more comprehensive plan. Seven or eight days is not much notice for an operation such as this. The city's staff is to be commended on acting so fast and not leaving the airport without services. Mr. Ken Shawsaw stated they had decided to hold off on their operation. They were interested in operating at the airport. His company nor ABP had any intention of going into business in competition with the city. They would rather work with them. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the first time. Alderman Thiel moved to suspend the rules and move to the second reading. Alderman Davis seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion passed unanimously. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the second time. Alderman Davis moved to suspend the rules and move to the third and final reading. Alderman Thiel seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the third and final time. Mayor Coody asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. City Council Minutes July 31 , 2001 Page 3 Alderman Zurcher moved to approve the emergency clause. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion carried unanimously. ORDINANCE 4326 AS RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK. Alderman Davis suggested incorporating the remaining six items into one resolution. Alderman Davis moved to approve the remaining five items with one resolution. Alderman Trumbo seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion carried unanimously. RESOLUTION 108-01 SHEWMAKER SETTLEMENT Mr. Williams state the ground rules will be that the Mr. Scott would present the Shewmakers case within thirty minutes. He will then respond to statements for not more than thirty minutes. This was not a question and answer period. Mr. Scott stated that when they went to trial in October 23, the check book would be held by twelve people who were not residents of Fayetteville. He thought that they had reasonable grounds to exclude any city resident from that jury. They would be common folks with the common idea that were generally pretty favorable toward the plaintiffs. This case involved his client's allegation of trespass. He presented a photo of the equipment used near their building. He stated the equipment had been operated next to and on the Shewmaker property. In 1992 the city vacated the easement on their property. The summer of 1997 the city was repaving the street. They came onto his client's property. Until July 10, the city had taken the position that they were not on their property. There was the issue of tort immunity. The city has now conceded by sworn affidavit that the city was on their property. The only question now was, were they there by permission. If they were not there by permission, then they trespassed and they were liable for an damages caused to the building. Mr. And Mrs. Shewmaker were going to testify that the city was not invited onto their property. They were going to have a swearing match. The city was going to say they were there by invitation . The Shewmaker's were going to say they were not. The Shewmakers were familiar with their property. Those cracks were not there until after the construction was done. The compactor came by their house and shook the house, after that there were cracks inside the building that were not there before. There had been some indication that they had not raised the claim for eight or nine months after the event. He felt that they had better than a fifty-fifty chance to win the case. He suggested to the council that they offer his clients a settlement of one hundred and fifty two thousand eight hundred and seventy two dollars in a way that they could consider. He did not want to lay their entire case out. What they were trying to do was to have a settlement negotiation. He passed out a copy of the jury instructions for damages in this type of case. City Council Minutes July 31 , 2001 Page 4 They were willing to settle for exterior damages. There had been some questions on the fair market value of the property. As far as the damage claim that was not relevant. Questions relating to insurance policy did not have any bearing on the lawsuit. The only thing important was who caused the damage and were they legally responsible for the damage and did they had a duty to them to not cause the damage. If the jury concluded yes to all those, then they had to pay them for their damages. Mr. Williams stated if they went to trial they never knew how it would turn out. It was difficult to represent the government, because there was an anti-government attitude. He did not agree that everyone in Fayetteville would be excluded from the jury. He did not believe they should be excused for cause. He thought there would be a mixture of citizens on the jury. They will go in with a slight handicap of representing the city as opposed to representing a private individual. Normally they could not talk about insurance, but in this case the part of the insurance they would be interested in was how much did the Shewmakers decide to insure their building for. He thought that the value was important. He thought they could not recover a significant amount of money more than what the building was worth. The value of the insurance would be something that he would try and get before the jury. The judge would have to decide if that was admissible. How much was the building appraised for on the tax rolls and how much did they pay for the building. All these things were important. On June 27, 2000, the Shewmakers sued the city for trespass and nuisance. They alleged that they city intentionally operated the roller on the Shewmaker property. That allegations was denied by Mr. Rose and he should by that. Later on they also denied allegations of trespass on the property. Randy Allen had presented his affidavit that the city was personally requested to pay the very section of land on which the Shewmakers now claim we were trespassing. The city had legal tort immunity for any alleged negligence that they would commit. He will assert this immunity in court as a defense. Occasionally there was an exception and that was caused an intentional tort and one of those was trespass. That was what they were trying to alleged. The land that they are alleged to have trespassed on was in fact vacated to them approximately five years before. The city had voluntarily without cost vacated to Mr. Shewmaker at his request. The city should only be liable for an intentionally tort or act. In this case he did not think there was any proof that any city employee ever intestinally trespassed upon their land. If they were invited on their, that was not a trespass. If there was a mistake, that was not an intentionally trespass or act. Statutory immunity was designed to protect cities from mistakes. At best that was what happened here. It was not an intentionally wrongful conduct that was exempted. The city had no intention other than doing a public service, to pave the street. It should also be noted the Shewmakers made no complaint or claim for eight or nine months after the event. He noted two or three months before that Mr. Shewmaker had met with Mr. Venable, Public Works Director, to complain about a drainage problem on his property. Even then, no claim was made at that time. They had be burden of proof. They had to prove that the city damaged their property and that the city did not. He questioned why they waited eight or nine months that the city had damaged their property. That was a difficult burden that they had to face. The city had cooperated with the city and yet they had not paid any claim to Mr. City Council Minutes July 31 , 2001 Page 5 Shewmaker. He requested a copy of that report. No claim had been paid their own insurance company for this damage. Over the years they have had no other complains of damage like this. They had done similar test with this machine to see if it could cause the type of damage alleged by the Shewmakers. In their report they indicated that they could not see any damage cause. They had recently paved the parking lot behind city hall. There was no damage done to that building. It was always dangerous to go to a jury trial, but his feeling was that the city did not cause any damage to this building. He thought that it would be better to invest the money for an expert an the pay more money to try and settle this case. Mr. Scott stated the issue about the delay, the Shewmakers had lost serval close family members. He thought they would get into the issue of inverse condemnation. The Shewmakers bought the property and refurbished it. There was been appreciation with its location. In response to question from Alderman Zurcher, Mr. Scott stated the wall that the city had done their test on was now cracked. His expert has compared the test run by the city had the actually site were not compatible. Alderman Davis asked how they were going to over come the argument that Mr. Shewmaker had met about a drainage problem, but did not bring this problem up. Mr. Scott stated they were there for a specific problem. Mr. Shewmaker stated Mr. Venable had asked him to do some paving. He would not agree to do the paving because of the water that was coming onto his property and under his building. Alderman Santos moved to offer the Shewmakers seventy-six thousand four hundred and thirty-six dollars. Alderman Zurcher seconded the motion. Mr. Williams asked of they would be willing to accept the offer. Alderman Thiel stated they were there to protect the citizens interests. Mr. Williams asked that they would add a date certain. Mayor Coody stated he had looked at the building and noted that the stone foundation which should have bore the brunt of the damage was not damaged at all and some of the plaster cracks on the side of the walls have been patched before. He knew that in dealing with plaster that it cracked and when it was patch there was a high likelihood that it would crack again. Alderman Santos and Zurcher agreed to limit the offer to two weeks. Upon roll call the motion carried by a vote of 5-2-0, Reynolds and Trumbo voting nay. MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 7, 2001 A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on August 7, 2001 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 219 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. PRESENT: Mayor Coody, Aldermen Santos, Jordan, Reynolds, Thiel, Young, Zurcher, Trumbo, and Davis, Interim City Attorney Kit Williams, Deputy City Clerk Gina Roberts, Staff, Press, Audience. Mayor Coody congratulated city employees; Scott Caldwell, John Goddard, and Clyde Randall for their Special Achievement in GIS Award. Mayor Coody stated they were putting the finishing touches on an agreement with the Boys and Girls Club, which will be presented to the City at the next Council meeting. Mike Hill, Boys and Girls Club, stated they had been working with the City Staff on an agreement and that they should be presenting it at their next meeting. AUDIT COMMITTEE REPORT Mr. Marty Bryan, Chairman of the Audit Committee, stated the Audit Committee had been established October 3, 2000, its purpose was to serve as an advisory capacity between the City Council, Independent Auditor, Internal Auditor, and the Management, audit internal controls and compliance. The committee was comprised of four people, one city council member and three private citizens. Their responsibilities were to serve on the review committee to select the external auditor, review the city's annual financial status, including any certification or report rendered by the independent auditor, review the performance of the independent auditors and review financial and accounting personnel adequacy and the effectiveness of the accounting and financial controls of the city and to advise the city council on any issues reported by internal audit staff. The results of the 2000 audit was an unqualified clean opinion. In accounting, that was excellent. There were no disagreements with management on financial reporting matters and no scope limitations related to audit work. There was open and affective communication with management. We received a certificate for excellence in financial reporting and budgeting for the twelfth consecutive year from the GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association). CONSENT AGENDA APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES Approval of the minutes from the July 17, 2001 meeting. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 2 RAVEN TRAIL AND GULLEY PARK TRAIL: A resolution awarding the construction contract for Raven Trail and Gulley Park Trail to Jerry D. Sweetser in the amount of $ 190,605 .50 and approving funding for the project contingency and material testing for the projects. REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA. OLD MISSOURI : A resolution approving amendment number one, in an amount not to exceed $24,947 to the engineering services contract with Garver Engineers for additional conceptual designs and cost estimates for improvements to Old Missouri Road from the intersection of Rolling Hills north to Mud Creek Bridge. RESOL UTION 109-01 AS RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK. GREGG STREET: A resolution agreeing to pay for right-of-way and the movement of utilities, if the Highway Department widens Gregg Street from Township to the Bypass. RESOLUTION 110-01 AS RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK. TRACKING SYSTEMS: A resolution certifying local government endorsement of Tracking Systems to participate in the Advantage Arkansas Program also known as the Arkansas Enterprise Zone Program. RESOLUTION 111-01 AS RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK. CARGO VAN: A resolution approving the purchase of a 2001 Ford E- 150 Cargo Van for the sum of $21 , 164.00 from Ron Blackwell Ford. This unit will be used by the Police Department. RESOLUTION 112-01 AS RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK. Alderman Davis moved to approve the Consent Agenda. Alderman Santos seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion carried unanimously. RAVEN TRAIL AND GULLEY PARK TRAIL: A resolution awarding the construction contract for Raven Trail and Gulley Park Trail to Jerry D. Sweetser in the amount of $ 190,605 .50 and approving funding for the project contingency and material testing for the projects. Mr. Greg Boettcher, Public Works Director, stated the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department awarded to the city a sum of $750,000 for multi-use trails in Fayetteville. This grant is eighty-percent of the eligible project costs, with the city providing a sum of$ 187,500 to go with that. The Raven and Gulley Trails which they were considering tonight constitute some $223, 196, which was about twenty-three percent of their $937,500 total project funding. Joyce Boulevard, East Mud City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 3 Creek and West Mud Creek(CMN Property) are other trails which have been designed. They have been submitted to the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. They were expecting approval to bid those in September. Theywere moving ahead on these projects. The current funding that they have of $937,500 is not expected to be adequate to do all five trails. What they were planning to do was the West Mud Creek Trail which will be segmented into bid units, so they could tailor the last piece of the project to use all of the enhancement funds. There will be additional funding cycles which they hoped to apply for and move forward. At this point, Paul Libertine in the Engineering Division had been a key individual in moving this ahead and designing for the five trails. As it moved forward, the Trails Coordinator would pick up and work with Engineering on those. There was a map showing where the trails are. Alderman Thiel stated it was wonderful that they had been able to obtain funding. As alderman for Ward One, she knew they were working on a Walker Park Trail. Mr. Boettcher stated there would be future funding cycles. In the case of these funds that have been awarded they were project specific and must be used for the five trails the Highway Department identified. Alderman Davis stated they had purchased land for the Prairie Creek Trail which went from Sixth Street to the Walton Art Center area. The intent at the start of this project was to find land that the city owned, which happened to be in Ward Three. Mayor Coody stated theyhad received notice today that the Transportation Enhancement Funds were becoming available. They were going to start applying for more grant money. Alderman Davis thanked Chuck Rutherford for all his work on putting this together. Alderman Davis moved to approve the item. Alderman Thiel seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion carried unanimously. RESOLUTION 113-01 AS RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK. OLD BUSINESS SPECIAL SALES TAX ELECTION: An ordinance calling a special election to decide whether or not to approve a three-fourths cent (3/4¢) sales and use tax to fund the issuance of not to exceed one hundred twenty-five million dollars of Capital Improvement Bonds to finance all or a portion of the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, extending, improving and equipping of wastewater treatment plants, sewerage and related facilities. The ordinance was left on the second reading. Alderman Trumbo stated that they had a number of public hearings. Bringing this forward would City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 4 allow the public the right to vote on whether or not to go forward with the proposed new wastewater treatment plant, retrofitting their existing plant, and improving their collection system. This was not just about adding capacity, it was also about clean water. This was a lot of money. They had a number of public hearings and had talked at length about the three percent revolving loan, which was available to the city. It was unprecedented in terms of the low interest cost. They had talked about the fact that if this was defeated that they still have to do fifty million dollars of improvements to their existing plant which would mean doubling sewer rates for existing rate payers. They had looked at all the different financing mechanisms, the interest costs and the amortization, the schematics, the plans. He just thought it was time to move forward and to let the general public vote on this proposal on floating a bond and to do what was right for Fayetteville. There were those who wanted to defeat this to shut down growth in Fayetteville. That was not what this was about. It was adding capacity, but it was also increasing the technology of their existing facility and adding more capacity. It was an ongoing process of fixing up their collection system and it would allow them to not take slug all the way across Fayetteville. Mayor Coody stated they had been given an administrative order back in 1989 from the EPA that put them on notice that they had to improve their sewer system. They were under this executive order until 1995 when they started going through the process of starting the engineering of a new system and rebuilding their antiquated infrastructure and building a new plant on the west side of town. Once they saw us making serious headway, they lifted the order. They did not have a choice about building a sewer plant. The plant was just one quarter of the project. The entire sewer system was what they were having to rebuild. They did not have an option. The election was basically going to be asking the question of how they would pay for it. They were giving the voters a chance to approve the three-quarter cent sales and use tax. He personally felt that when they looked at the money they would be saving by doing this, they would save twenty-six million dollars in interest. They would also pay for it in half of the time, ten years verses twenty. If the voters turned down a three-quarter cent sales tax, they would be locked into having to find another funding mechanism to rebuild the system with. The only other option that could be used as collateral for this debt would be an increase in sewer rates. Sewer rates and sales tax were the two most predictable incomes the city has. If they did not have the sales tax, they will have to have a substantial increase in sewer rates. That would narrow their pool on the number of people who would be paying for it. They had to let people know it was not a question of if they were going to get a new system, the question was what mechanism of funding will they chose to pay for it. Alderman Trumbo stated they were over taxing Fayetteville. They were paying eight and one-eight percent city tax. One penny of that was for the HMR, one for Parks, one general fund and one for capitol improvements. He stated the library tax would sunset and this tax would pick up. The people voted and said that they wanted the Town Center, the Library, and the two mills for the Senior Center added to the property taxes. They were over taxed, but there were city services and needs they were having to make democratic decisions on. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 5 Alderman Young moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Alderman Davis seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the third and final time. Alderman Young stated hotels and motels were collecting 12. 125%. Restaurants were collecting 10. 125%, every one else was collecting 8. 125%. In response to questions from Alderman Zurcher, Mr. Steve Davis stated there were approximately 29,000 sewer system customers, which included Fayetteville, Greenland, Farmington and Johnson. Alderman Reynolds stated there were 2, 199 customers outside the City of Fayetteville. Mr. Davis stated there was a single connection to Elkins. They had one customer, which was the city of Elkins. They did not have any control over how many connections that they had. They did not do anything past that one connection with Elkins. It was based on volume. Alderman Trumbo stated he had heard some people say why didn't they just shut off the communities that were not in Fayetteville and let them build their own plant. He asked if they had long standing contracts with those municipalities for service. Mr. Davis stated that was correct. The closest contract that they had would expire in 2008. Alderman Zurcher stated it would be unfair to charge just the rate payers in Fayetteville to pay for this thing. At the same time to completely rely on a sales tax wasn't fair either. He asked if the communities that did not have their own sewer plants could they pitch in a little more. Can the industries pitch in a little more. Could they not raise them. He would like to look more at a package than just one thing that they were going to vote on. Mayor Coody stated about five years from now, they would have to have a relative small rate increase on their sewer fees. They were going to do everything that they could to come in under budget on this project. They will have to increase sewer rates five years from now once the plant goes on line. They will have to have the money to operate. They will see an increase in there sewer rates in the year 2005 or 2006. That would be the first rate increase in about nine years. To do a package deal to use different mechanisms to fund this might complicate their bond issue. Mr. Hunt stated that they needed to keep in mind that the revolving loan fund only allowed the one sales tax that they were talking about that they could pay off early. If they decided to combine with anything other than the one sales tax they would not be able to pay off as early with the other revenues. That was one of the reasons that they felt that from the perspective of participating in the Revolving Loan Fund and maximizing their ability to reduce their interest expends that it made sense City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 6 for them to use the sales tax alone in this case. Only this specific sales tax, there were other sales tax that the revolving loan fund would not allow them to do. The statute specifically state that it was the only thing they could use this sales tax for was to pay off the debt. The State was not going to say they could not use the sales tax to do that, so they allowed them to do early redemption or paying it off early. That was one of the key advantages of reducing their interest because they had the money coming in. From the current numbers, it looks like they would be able to pay it off in 2015. With a Revenue Bond issue they would be talking about going out to 2025 . That was where the twenty-six million dollars in additional interest expenses would come in. It would be a slightly higher rate, plus they could not pay off early. If they did not use the Revolving Loan method and went out into the open market then they would be talking about nearly fifty million dollars in additional interest. In response to questions, he stated with the Revolving Loan there would be a ten year call protection. After ten years they could use any resource to help pay down the loan, but they would still have the ten year period that they could not make any redemptions. Mayor Coody stated he had seen in the paper where they were going to have an election on November 20 for Asa Hutchinson's position. Would it be a mistake to move the election from November 6 to November 20. Mr. Wilburn stated the statute stated "general or special election". It really did not matter. Mayor Coody asked if it would affect their timing? Mr. Wilburn stated they could push it back that far. Alderman Young stated they did not know the exact date of the election. Mr. William stated this was a one hundred and twenty-five million dollar bond issue. If they changed the date of the election they might present an opening for someone to challenge this. They had worked very hard to make sure that this particular ordinance was very legal and constitutional and covered all the bases. He would hate for something which represented such a tiny amount of the bond issue to endanger a potential bond issue. He stated they needed to chose a date tonight. If they wanted to chose November 20, then they could amend Section Three. They could move to reconsider this amendment at their next council meeting. They could not come back anytime they wanted to amend this ordinance without leaving opening for someone to challenge this. Mayor Coody stated the money to him was a small factor in this. One of the things he had heard quite often was that the public felt that they had special elections in order to time it when people were out of town and only the interested people would show up. It would not hurt to make the extra effort to try and get the public to understand they wanted as many people as possible to come to this. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 7 Alderman Young stated November 20 was not as good a date as November 6. Have an election just before Thanksgiving when a lot of people were out of town. Alderman Zurcher moved to table the ordinance. In response to questions, Mr. Williams stated the next item if it passed would postpone any ordinance for ninety days. That would get them outside time frame. Anytime they were dealing with a large bond issue like this they needed to be as clean as possible and to follow the law exactly and not through any new legal changes. They did not want to push the envelope and be creative when it came to something like this. His advice to them was to go as straight as possible. They did not want to give any room for challenges. The more they played around with this the more openings could happen. They had studied the issue very carefully and had come up with this ordinance after a lot of work. This ordinance right now as it was written, they knew what would it do. If they started changing things on the fly he could not tell them what it would do. When they were dealing with one hundred and twenty-five millions dollars they did not want to learn after the fact that they had made a mistake and that someone could claim that they were confused on what they were voting on. Or that they confused the voters by changing the dates or putting a date in that was not certain and that was set by someone else. They did not want to do anything like that. They wanted it to be clear to the voters exactly what the issue was. Alderman Thiel asked Mr. Wilburn if he was in total agreement with Mr. Williams. Mr. Wilburn stated he agreed with Mr. Williams. They needed to go straight down the line with what had been proven and up held. Alderman Zurcher again moved to table the item to the next meeting. The motion failed from lack of a second. Alderman Jordan stated the three-quarter sales tax was the best way that they could go with that. He felt sales taxes were regressive, but in this case he thought the alternative to doubling the sewer rate, that the three-quarter sales tax was the better way to go. He had always been in favor of putting taxes before a vote of the people. This was no exception. If the people voted this down, do not expect him to support doubling people's sewer rates. Mr. Geary Lowery, an area resident, stated he would like to inform them of a rumor that the proposed west side treatment plant already needed expansion to include other communities that lie west of Fayetteville and other communities wanting on line to the Fayetteville Sewer Plant. At another meeting it had been proposed that a park could go around the new sewer plant. At that time the Mayor stated they might need that land for expansion. The number of people using our sewer out side of city limits was one large main tap to Elkins which served them at the current rate of four City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 8 hundred and seventy-nine sewer connections. Who they were and what they were, the city did not know. They had sixty three commercial taps in Farmington. They had twenty two commercial and industrial taps in Greenland. In the growth area they had one large major industrial tap. They had twelve hundred and seventy five residential taps in Farmington, three hundred and eleven in Greenland, four hundred and seventy nine in Elkins and one hundred and fifty eight in Johnson and twenty two in the growth area. They currently had twenty four other from Farmington and twenty one other Greenland, and one other for the city of Elkins. He had been trying to get some figures from OMI. Everyone seemed concerned about the infill and age of our sewer lines. They had a lot of problems. They needed to improve their system. He was upset at the cost and that it was only going to be for Fayetteville. It was for Fayetteville and the other communities surrounding us. He was tired of this city taking a hit. There were people within city limits that did not have sewer service who would like to have it. Before they expanded anymore or any more sewer taps were given to anyone else, they needed to tap into their own constituents. It was the duty of the city to service all of the citizens. In the last five years this city has had revenue profits in excess of five million dollars a year in revenue capital improvement money for the sewer system. Why did they need to increase their rates in the next five years, if they had five to nine million dollars available for sewer improvements. Mr. Jeff Erf, an area resident, stated he would like to pin point the numbers that they were talking about for the sewer treatment plant. He asked that they correct him if he was wrong. So far they had spent about seven million dollars already towards this project for land, engineering and other related costs. The engineer was estimating that the current cost for the plant and improvements to the Noland Plant and other associated costs was one hundred and twenty million dollars. Mr. Greg Boettcher stated that was correct. Mr. Erf asked if that included construction cost, engineering, legal and administrative costs? Mr. Boettcher stated it also included some contingencies on construction. Mr. Erf stated that the amount of bonds that would need to be sold was about a hundred and fifteen million and five of that came from a bond issue that had been approved last year and carred over to this year for a total of one hundred and twenty million dollars of money that was available for capital costs. The interest on the hundred and fifteen million dollars was roughly twenty and a half million dollars. Mayor Coody stated that was correct. Mr. Erf stated if he tallied up the seven million they had already spent, the one hundred and twenty million construction cost and related expenses and the interest on all of that, he came up with one hundred and forty seven million and one half dollars. He asked if that seemed right for total project cost or the amount of tax payer dollars which would be spent on the project as estimated today. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 9 In response to comments from Mr. Hunt, Mr. Erf stated the total project cost would be nearly one hundred and fifty million dollars. The ballot was asking the voters to approve a bond issue up to one hundred and twenty five million dollars. Another thing that concerned him was if the voters voted against this bond issue, what did that mean? Mayor Coody replied they could raise sewer rates. If they did not correct their system and get it in line with what the EPA required then not only could they shut them down, but they could fine them twenty five thousand dollars per occurrence. Mr. Erf stated he did not believe the EPA was requiring that the city of Fayetteville provide capacity for eighty five thousand people. He questioned if the voters turned this down in November did the rates have to go up. He thought they needed to put that on the ballot. Mayor Coody stated he was exactly right, but whether the legal department agreed with him or not was another question. Mr. Erf stated he had problem with the choice of"being build " or "build it". They were only talking about how to pay for it. That concerned him. If they were going to see this as a mandate, then that meant they were voting for a rate increase. Mayor Coody stated they did not want to be in the position of having the public think that if they voted down the three-quarter cent and then they skyrocketed the sewer rates. The public will then say that the city was shoving the rate increase down their throat so that they could get what they want. They kept talking about the need for this project and the fact that it was really the question of how they were going to pay for it. They were trying to make it as clear as they could. They had to let the public know what they were dealing with. Even if not another person moved into town, they had to rebuild their system. Right now they were pumping all their waste from the west side of town through nine lift stations, over the ridge, and down to the Paul Noland Plant and then they were sending it right over the mountain again to the Illinois River. They were trying to do as much as they could with the public. There was one lift station where the sewage crosses the ridge three times to get treated once. They would be able to ,eliminate nine lift stations and all the required industrial and electrical pumping that went with that. It should decrease their operating cost. Mr. Erf stated it was his understanding that after the new plant was on line and the old plant was improved and all the pipes were put in that they were talking about, an increase in twenty-eight percent for operation and management of the new system. Any saving from the removal of the lift stations was eliminated. Mr. Boettcher stated that grade was calculated on 2005 . It was predicted for four years ahead rather than today's dollars. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 10 Mr. Erf stated if the voters were to approve this bond issue, it permitted them to go up to one hundred and twenty five million dollars in bonds. Could any of that be used for maintenance or operation expenses? Mayor Coody replied they could not, it was for the building and construction. He hoped the public realized that those were the choices. This project started ten years ago. It was time they did something. Doing nothing was simply not an option. Mr. Erf asked if there would be an ordinance in place regarding impact fees before the election. Mayor Coody replied things did not move that fast around here. Mr. Earnest stated impact fees would still be in discussion at the time of the election. Alderman Thiel stated it was her understanding that they could use the impact fees for sewer capacity needs and not to pay the bonds off. It was not going to make her shy away from impact fees, just because they could not be used directly towards this. Alderman Zurcher stated he was going to have trouble supporting this issue if he did not know before hand that the developers were going to pay their fair share by using impact fees. Alderman Thiel stated the people who had lived here for a long time had paid their dues. Some of the affect of the growth needed to be paid for by the people that were creating the need. Alderman Zurcher moved to amend Section Three from "November 6, 2001 ", to "this election would fall on the same day that would be set by Governor Huckabee for the election for the third congressional district seat'. Alderman Davis stated their bond council agreed with Mr. Williams. Since both of them felt the same way, they were probably correct. The motion died from lack of a second. Mayor Coody asked shall this ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. ORDINANCE 4327 AS RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK. REFERENDUM PETITIONS: An ordinance amending Section 36. 15 of the Code of Fayetteville to change the number of days allowed for referendum petitions to be filed from thirty-one days to ninety days. The ordinance was left on the first reading. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 11 Alderman Young moved to suspend the rules and move to the second reading. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion. Upon roll the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the second time. Mr. Hunt stated they had brought bond issues to them in the past and that it was important that they take all three readings in one evening because investors had indicated they would buy the bonds, but they did not want to be delayed over a ninety-day period. The market could change dramatically during that period of time. There would become a resistance on the part of the investors to purchase bonds. He thought they needed to be concerned that Arkansas was one of very few States that had the thirty-day referendum requirement currently for bond issues. This was a concern if this was an interest rate environment where interest rates were creeping up. If they went to the ninety-days, he thought they would be compounding that problem significantly. In terms of financing a bond issue, they should seriously consider the implications it would have. Someone was going to buy the bonds, the city was going to be the one taking the interest rate risk. They were going to want a higher interest rate, because they were talking about such an extended period of time. They were not only talking about ninety-days, they would be talking about hundred and ten days before the ordinance was completed. Alderman Zurcher asked if an emergency clause would work? Mr. Williams stated they would have to be very careful with an emergency clause. Generally they had to be for peace and safety as opposed to money. When they were dealing with large bond issues, that made it a target. If they did not have a good reason to have an emergency clause, then that was another way that they could be challenged. That was why they did not have an emergency clause here. Mr. Wilburn stated even with the emergency clause they would still wait thirty-days. If the ordinance passed they would wait ninety-days. The supreme court has cracked down on the use of the emergency clause. People were putting them on every thing. For them to be comfortable to close a multi-million dollar bond issue they would wait the thirty or ninety-days. If the ordinance was not validly adopted, it was his opinion on the line. Mayor Coody stated he was concerned about extending this to ninety-days because they already had initiated referendum on the books. Anyone at anytime can put something on a ballot to be voted on without having to do it in thirty-one days. They could spend up to a year and a half to get something on a ballot. Alderman Young stated he did not think that was correct. He thought they had sixty or ninety-days. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 12 Mr. Williams stated if someone wanted something on the ballot they could go through the initiated ballot process. He was not sure when they could start collecting the petitions, but they would have time to get very organized and have their people ready to go out. If they had an issue they were concerned about, they could get their group together and get organized. They would have plenty of lead time to get on the general election ballot. Mayor Coody stated that within the last ten years there has only been two ordinance that have been questioned with a petition. They had passed over forty ordinance this year alone. Alderman Thiel asked if they would consider forty-five days. In responses to suggestions from Aldermen, Mr. Williams stated Amendment 7, and stated they needed to pick a date and that was when they took affect or the deadline for the referendum. The City Council was not given the right to fine tune it as they went along, ordinance by ordinance. The City Council had to chose a time or if they did not chose a time, then it was ninety-days. He could find nothing in Amendment 7 which would allow a city council to make exceptions for ordinances which were going to be challenged. Amendment 7 was part of their constitution. They had to fall within that framework. They could not go outside either the statutory or the constitutional law. Mayor Coody stated by using parliamentary procedure they had the option to use a motion to reconsider. Mr. Williams stated there were parliamentary ways that they could postpone the affect date of an ordinance. Normally that was not a good thing to do in a tax sort of issue. A lot of these have not been tested in court. But it was a potential possible way it could be done. Alderman Zurcher stated that defeated the purpose of allowing citizens to get something on a ballot. What they were doing was not always the best decision. This would give people the chance to petition the government to put it to a vote. That was different than us allowing it. This would allow them the time to do, because we would not do it. It was not because they agreed with us. It was giving away a little bit of their power to the people and who wanted to give up power. This made him want to almost want to vote wrong so that he would be in the majority on these things so that he could bring it up later. But he was not going to. Alderman Jordan did not believe thirty-one days was long enough. Alderman Davis stated usually it was over something controversial and they were already getting set up. He did not think that thirty-one days was a problem. Usually very few things were done in three readings. They would have some warning ahead of time that this could be a problem. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 13 Alderman Trumbo moved to suspend the rules and go to the third and final reading. Alderman Thiel seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the third and final time. Ms. Paula Marioni, an area resident, stated she had worked on an effort to save Carrell Hall. They had gotten four thousand signatures in thirty days during their petition drive. They were already organized. It was already an impassioned issue. She did not bring this issue forward, but she could relate to it. Thirty days was not really enough time for the citizens to be able to rally interest and to make their concerns be known. When they get the energy rolling and people were excited about it, then they would jump in. If it wasnot there it was going to dragon forever. Alderman Thiel asked the attorneys what they thought of the forty-five day proposal. It wascritical for bonding purposes? Mr. Wilburn stated they would be different from everyone else in the State. As far as he knew, everyone else in the State was thirty-one days. Alderman Young stated there was a law passed stating that any one who did not have an ordinance on the books, the affective date was ninety-days. Mr. Wilburn stated he had not come across any city which did not have that ordinance on the books. Alderman Santos stated there were other re-courses. They were trying to change an ordinance which was going to have an adverse affect on ninety-nine percent of their ordinances. Alderman Zurcher asked who was being hurt by the delay besides the bond issuer. Alderman Reynolds called for the vote. Mayor Coody asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance failed by a votes of 3-5-0, Santos, Reynolds, Thiel, Trumbo, and Davis voting nay. ORDINANCE FAILED. NEW BUSINESS CLIFFS APARTMENTS : An ordinance waiving Ordinance 3793 to accept money- in-lieu of the park land requirement for the Cliffs Apartments Phase lI Development. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the first time. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 14 Alderman Davis stated he was in favor of this. The developer was giving one hundred and thirty- five thousand dollars in lieu of land. They were also going to be putting in an olympic sized pool, jogging and walking trails. Mr. Williams stated they were developing as a PUD and this was private park land that they were having for their residents. They were donating money rather than giving additional land for a public park. In response to questions, Mr. Tim Conklin stated this was an extension of the Cliffs. The property is surrounded to the east and north by the original Cliffs Boulevard and Highway 265. The planning and development was in the process right now. They were meeting the open space requirements with regard to the request for increase in density bonus. They had a two hundred and fifty foot setback around the perimeter. It was a Planned Unit Development. It was an expansion of the original Cliffs. They will have park like amenities within the development in addition to the one hundred thirty thousand five hundred dollars. Alderman Thiel stated that they did have parks near by and that they did not really need the park land. Park land acquisition to the north was preferred in the future. She supported this. Ms. Connie Edmonston stated that they encouraged developments to add park amenities for their people because it took stress of the park system. They can still serve the area with other park amenities such as soccer fields or skate board parks. It was a good compromise that when they had a development with the community spirit of providing for the people recreational activities that it was a good deal for both people. Alderman Davis moved to suspend the rules and move to the second reading. Alderman Jordan seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the second time. Alderman Santos stated he would like to explain that this fee was an impact fee, it was based on the demand for parks created by the new residents. This was going to be a public park, but is was going to provide recreational facilities for these residents. It was a great deal for the city because in addition to providing for the demand created by the development they were also contributing to the greenspace fund,just as if they had not included a park in their development which already met their new residents demands for recreational facilities. Alderman Santos moved to suspend the rules and move to the third and final reading. Alderman Thiel seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the third and final time. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 15 Mr. Geary Lowery, an area resident, stated make sure that they collect the money. Subdivisions and places that were suppose to dedicate money or land to the city have not done so. The area where he lived was supposed to dedicate fourteen thousand eight hundred and forty-eight dollars toward the Parks and Recreation department. They had yet to fulfill their obligation. He suggested that they get their documents recorded and checks certified. Ms. Edmonston stated upon final plat approval there were spaces where everyone had to sign off on. One of them was the parks. If they were requiring park land or money in lieu. If it was land they did not sign off until a deed is received. If it was money they did not sign off until they had paid the money .to the city. They did have check and balances in place now. She did not think that could happen. Alderman Thiel stated she had checked on it, during that time the individual when they built a house within a subdivision they were supposed to take care of this. That became very difficult to track. There were probably a lot of older subdivisions still where that happened. For them to try and track that now would be cost prohibitive. Their ordinances now protected them from that situation. Mayor Coody asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll call the ordinance passed unanimously. ORDINANCE 4328 AS RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK. RZN O1-10.00: An ordinance approving rezoning request RZN O1 - 10.00 submitted by George Faucette on behalf of James and Judy McDonald, for property located at 461 East Township. The property is zoned R- 1 , Low Density Residential and contains approximately .42 acres. The request is to rezone to C-2, Thoroughfare Commercial. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the first time. Alderman Santos asked to leave this item and the next on the first reading tonight. He did not have a problem with any of them. But they needed to give people in the community more time. Mr. Faucett stated this item had passed the Planning Commission by a vote of 9-0. hi addition to that over half of the lot was zoned C-2. He thought there was a problem with the zoning map. Alderman Trumbo moved to suspend the rules and move to the second reading. Alderman Davis seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the second time. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 16 Alderman Trumbo moved to suspend the rules and move to the third and final reading. Alderman Reynolds seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the third and final time. Mr. Conklin stated the staff had recommended approval, the Planning Commission did approve it. In this situation, it was a lot which was half zoned C-2 and half R- 1 . The use had been established in the early seventy's. It was a clean-up rezoning. There was currently a retail business there. Mayor Coody asked shall the ordinance pass. Upon roll the ordinance passed unanimously. ORDINANCE 4329 AS RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK. ANX O1-2.00: An ordinance approving annexation request ANX 01 -2.00 for property located east of Sunshine Road and South of Mount Comfort. The property is in the planning area and contains approximately 14.47 acres. The request is to annex the subject property into the City of Fayetteville. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the first time. Alderman Zurcher asked if they had any idea of when they wanted those planning areas to develop. Mr.Conklin stated this annexation is directly north of a forty acre annexation that they looked at a couple of months ago. At that time, the Mayor brought up that they would begin looking at annexation policy for the City of Fayetteville. His staff has begun that effort, along with updating their general plan with the 2000 census numbers. What he intended to do was to bring forward an amended General Plan with the first three chapters and adding a chapter with regard to annexation policy. That would be brought through the Planning Commission and the City Council. Most cities that had an annexation policy have placed those policies within their Comprehensive plan. That was what they were looking to do. Mr. Philip Humbard, Engineering Services, this parcel did contain the park land that theywere going to dedicate to the city as part of the development. Alderman Thiel stated this was part of a large park. Mr. Conklin stated this was along Hamstring Creek. The idea was to have the land dedicated as part of a potential greenway system along the creek. They had received other land dedications in other developments closer into town. The idea was this would make an ideal location for some type of trail or greenway system. It contained floodway and floodplain. It was a beautiful piece of property that would be good for a trail. City Council Minutes August 7, 2001 Page 17 ORDINANCE WAS LEFT ON THE FIRST READING. RZN 01-11 .00: An ordinance approving rezoning request RZN 01 - 11 .00 submitted by Phillip Humbard of Engineering Services on behalf of Cross Creek Subdivision for property located east of Sunshine Road and South of Mount Comfort Road. The property is zoned A- 1 , Agricultural, and contains approximately 14.47 acres. The request is to rezone to R- 1 , Low Density Residential. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the first time. ORDINANCE WAS LEFT ON THE FIRST READING. RZN O1 -12.00: An ordinance approving rezoning request RZN 01 - 12.00 submitted by Rob Sharp, on behalf of Brian Reindl, for property located at 509 West Spring Street. The property is zoned I- 1 , Heavy Commercial/Light Industrial, and contains approximately 1 .91 acres. The request is to rezone to C-3, Central Commercial. Mr. Williams read the ordinance for the first time. Alderman Zurcher stated this has been used as commercial. He was concerned about the people who were doing some light industrial there, would they be forced out? Mr. Conklin stated any use that was allowed in I- 1 , that is now unconforming would be grandfathered in. They did have standards within their zoning ordinances and how long they could be abandoned until they had to comply with the C-3 zone. Typically it was six months. Any parts of the building that was currently being used and continue to be used in that manner can continue as long as they did not stop having business. They were grandfathered in. The city was not going to send them a letter ordering them to discontinue. Alderman Davis asked if they were allowed to expand the inside that building. Mr. Conklin stated they were not allowed to expand. There were limitations on how much remodeling or renovations that they could do. It would allow the business to stay in operation. It was not going to put any burdens on them. C-3 had been passed a few years ago to help revitalize Dickson Street. This allowed existing buildings to used or converted from warehousing to retail without requiring additional parking. Prior to that they required parking. It was very difficult to provide that parking. They had seen a lot of their old industrial buildings on Dickson Street and that area be converted from warehousing /industrial uses to retail, entertainment uses. This rezoning would allow them to convert additional space within that building to retail, restaurants, and entertainment uses without having to provide additional parking. It encouraged the use of these old buildings.